6/5/05 - Surgery eve...

Whoa Nellie!!!! I don't recall anyone writing about the horrible bowel prep that's done the night before surgery! Well, let me tell you about it. The Phosophosoda is not too nasty (at first) if you mix it into cold Sprite. However, about mid way through it, my gag reflexes took hold and I had to struggle a bit to keep it in. I found it easier to distract my brain by playing a game on the computer. Before you know it (about 10-15 minutes later), I was making a beeline for the bathroom. I'll spare you all the gory details but I took the medicine at 3:00 and it's now 7:30 pm and I'm still running for the bathroom about every 15 minutes or so! Sounds funny I know but this is miserable. Once you're 'cleaned out' then the acidic stuff comes out and so you'll definitely need A&D Ointment for your hiney and some Huggies baby wipes to clean up with afterwards. Make sure you've got a few rolls of Ultra Charmin and make it the double roll....anything to make this 'experience' better. I had a spell of nausa after about 3 hours, I guess because I was drinking too much water. I vomited a little bit and then switched to ice chips and that seem to help a lot. I stopped eating solid foods on Friday night and made slim-fast smoothies for my meals based upon what the hospital nurse had suggested, regardless what goes in, must come out! I also had made a trip to the health store (Hi-Health) and to the grocery store to buy the next several weeks worth of food supplies. I spent about $30 at Hi-Health and $105 at Fry's. The unique and special foods that are required, are not too cheap! The good thing is that with the small amount of food that will be eaten, will make the supplies last quite long! I found some organic soup broths at Fry's in the health food section that I did not find in the soup aisle - the variety is better and the price is about the same. Finding the chewable vitamins has been a bit more challenging and I think I've been to just about every store looking for what was on the list and I still had issues! Well, nothing fancy for my last night. I'm not taking photos or measurements or anything like that. The memories are permenantly etched in my mind and that's all the reminders I need. Tomorrow's a new day and the start of a new me. Onwards and upwards. Julie

Julie, Sorry about your issues!!! Good luck tomorrow, I know you'll be fine and soon be a big loser!! Write again soon and let us know how it went! Bonnie B

Hi Julie, Good luck tomorrow, you'll be in my prayers. Keep us posted!

wishing you much luck tomorrow! i will be on the toilet myself soon. ;) thanks for the tips though!

We don't write about it cause we want to forget about it! I actually found the prep more difficult than the surgery! Yuk! Hope everything came out OK (no pun intended!), with both. Let us know how you're doing. - Stephanie J