Out of the hospital and lots of questions...Please help

Ok I had surgery Tuesday at noon and I left the hospital on Wednesday at 6:30pm. Too early as far as I was concerned but Dr. thought I was ready and he knows better then I do. So we left in the rain for a 3 hour ride back to Yuma. The RN who checked me out wasn't sure how I should take care of my incision so told me how to change the bandage to a dry dressing. He wasn't sure if I could clean it or how. He wasn't sure if I could shower or when. He did show me how to empty the bottle with the blood in it. At this point I am so sore but not from the incision its all inside, which I am guessing is from all of the rearranging of the insides of my intestines etc. The port is stinging like crazy. When I emptied it this morning there were some clots in the blood, is that normal?

I am on clear liquids, does that include protein drinks or not yet? When should I expect to have a bowel movement? Should I start taking my vitamins already? What about my medications? Should they all be doubled up already? I take blood thiners for A fib and I don't want to mess with that one.

AND.......shouldn't SOMEONE have gone over all of these things with me at sometime through out this process?? Because no one did and I am stressing out.

Oh and one more interesting thing....I am a hard person to find a vein but not impossible but when I came out of surgery they had the IV in my juggulier ( not sure of the spelling). My throat is bandaged up as if my throat has been slashed.

Thanks for any advise....I appreciate it

SheriAZ

Please call the hospital and speak to someone who can answer these questions for you as soon as possible.  Your life in is danger at this point. 

Seriously...

Sheri,
Please call Jen in Dr. Schlesinger's office.  Most of your questions should have been addressed in the handouts they gave you when you signed all your release paperwork at your pre-op appointment.  But please call Jen and ask her to explain it all to you again.  Don't stress out.  If you need to talk to Dr. Schlesinger ask for him to call you, you know he will do that.  Sounds like you have a couple of Dr. Schlesinger questions as well.

You should be ok to take a shower now, but pat dry the incision.  You mix 1/2 to 1/2 distilled water to peroxide to clean the incision.  Antibiotic ointment around the incision and the drain. 

Your being sore is probably from the jostling in the car, but just take it easy and you will be felling better soon.
Deanne

Thanks Deanne,
I did just that and called Jen...she is a God send. What would we do without her. I will be getting some antibiotic ointment for the drain. The incision isn't giving me any problems. I did look in the folder and found the after surgery cleaning instructions. I was just surprised that the RN at the hospital was so hesitant to change the dressings before I left the hospital. During my time there no one ever checked the incision or the dressings at all. I found that unusual. I just assumed that was part of the post-surgery care. Dr. S has been great and told me to call anytime 24/7. I really feel good just very tired.

Sheri

Oh sweetie!  Ouch with the juggular thing !  And so sorry you didn't get the info pre-op to prepare you post-op.  You sure it's not in one of your folders somewhere?  Most practices give a Bible to memorize before they'll let you into the O.R.

All your questions are absolutely important to have answers to BUT.....not from us! ....  Those exact questions should be going to your surgeon via phone right this very minute!  Yuma is a big stretch for driving right after major surgery.  I'm sure your insides hurt for many reasons at many levels.  Get your answers while you are coherent then take some of that wonderful pain medication and relax and recovery.  Being worried and stressed can get our body all worked up into a frenzy and then the recovery is rougher than it needs to be.

All of those comments by the nurse, etc would be a great follow-up letter to the hospital and/or Dr. S.  I'm sure that Lori G at P.V. would want to make sure the education is better than that.

Congrats and hang in there!  Keep us posted and let us know the answers to all of your questions.  Maybe someone else out and about in the world could benefit from your proactive information!

Holiday Healing Hugggzzzz your way!

I called Jen early this morning and she had all of the answers. I knew she would. Some of the things that happened in the hospital were unfortunate and she is going to mention them. Even I knew that some of them should have been answered before I left the hospital. I feel much better already. I am just really tired. I knew how important it was to walk after surgery so I did...lots. It caught up to me. Thank you so much for answering back its good to know that even if I am just stressing out alittle bit someone is there to listen.

Unfortunate? No, Sheri some of the what hoslpital did not do sounds absolutly criminal.  Why would they let you leave with your drains in?  Do you know how you are going to get them out and when?  I am going to pray for you and hope everything gets squared away beautifully.

Shay, I love the martini glass....no the drain is a normal thing to leave with and I did expect it some of the rest was not expected and when the hospital called I did mention it to them. I am feeling fabulous actually. Talking to Jen in the Dr. office made me feel so much better. She is great and answered all of my questions. The only thing that I am dealing with now is gas and thats normal. Thanks for your kind thoughts and prays we all need them, if they don't work nothing does.

Try ginger tea for the gas.  Its homeopathic and takes longer to work but it does work.  Either get the kind in a bag or if u brew it from the root allow the ground particles to settle before drinking.

Sorry you had to go through this.  These are issues that your doctor should have made sure someone explained to you.  My doc explained all this to me before surgery and after surgery and I had written instructions to take home.

The port... that was the worst part of my own revision from band to sleeve.  It really hurt a great deal for about 2 weeks.  Have you felt the burning yet?  HA!  I'd be doing something and all the sudden it would start feeling like that muscle was on fire.  It would only last a few seconds and it was back to sore.

I suspect the reason the nurse didn't know what to tell you about your incisions is that each doctor has different post op instructions.  But he should have found out for you.