My turn this week -LBL

Thanks Shelly, I will and I can't thank you enough for your encouragement.  I think I have compared myself to you the most as far as before pics/age/weight loss, etc.

I think you should start the colace the day before and also eat some prunes.  I had a my surgery on Tuesday and had my first BM on Friday and it was not bad at all.  I brought prunes with me to the hospital and had 2 or 3 a day along with the colace.  Good luck!!

Laura

But I hate prunes!!  ha ha!!!  I will have to think about that one.  I will definetly start the colace the day before and bring it with me.

I can tell you that I was horribly constipated, and that even munching stool softener every couple of hours and having a big bag of prunes (which I do like) and raisins all around, I could barely get a bowel movement to save my life.  I was literally tearing myself and passing blood every time (not just a little- a lot!) and it was horrible.  I don't think doing it more than a day in advance is necessary- but I would not 'get behind' the pain meds on this.  You of course don't want to have violent diarrhea either- but I think you are wise to put some thought into it and plan.  Think about things you can eat that will be easier to pass, and just keep it in mind.  If I could drink protein shakes (they make me dump, and hard) I would have just done that the first few days and not eaten at all.  I could barely make my muscles let me pee, much less push to poop.  Going into my next round in December I will definitely get going with it a day in advance.

I had a horrible constipation issue after my sleeve surgery and never want to repeat it.  I will stick to shakes for a few days after surgery so hopefully that along with the colace will help.

Good luck with your surgery - mine is coming up soon too, Nov. 5th.

I'm doing a full bowel prep the day before surgery to make certain I'm completely cleaned out for surgery and to avoid having to have a BM too soon. I will also focus on high fiber foods post op such as beans.