Since April 22nd, I have been feeling pretty rough and finally scheduled surgery a little over a week ago. I can't believe that tomorrow is actually the day. I am scared, but I am also so ready to get this taken care of so that I am not in pain. I have also been so very worried that my bowel was going to perforate before I made it to surgery, and the surgeon telling me that he had 3 recent cases that perforated before they made it didn't help my nerves. :)
So, last night at midnight, I switched over to "clear" liquids only. Apparently coffee and diet coke count as clear liquids which I don't understand, but I did have a diet coke late last night but none today.
Before colon surgery, you have to do a bowel prep similar to when you have a colonoscopy. For my colonoscopy in December, I had to take Ducolax tablets and drink miralax in 64 ounces of gatorade. It was disgusting and it made me so very nauseated. My surgeon gave me a fairly new bowel prep called Prepopik. It is SO much better than the traditional kind. It is two pouches of powder that you mix with 5 ounces of cold water each time. Then, you just drink whatever "clear" liquids you want and that is it! While I am pretty sure that no bowel prep is ever a fun event, this has been very tolerable.
I spent $145 at Publix today getting supplies - clear liquids, Jello, popsicles, italian ice and things for when I get home like pudding and ice cream. I got Morgan some snacks for the hospital and some other things like face wipes and such to hopefully not feel so disgusting while i am there.
Here are pictures of the kit and instructions.
Here is my drinking the first batch (Proof that it isn't that horrible)
I will admit that right after this was taken, I did get a bit of an aftertaste that made me gag a little. But I think I just wasn't expecting it. It was kind of like when you take a big swig of a liquor and all the sudden it kind of has a backlash at the end. It was still easy and tasted pretty much like lemonade.
I then had to drink 40 ounces of "Clear" liquids over the next 5 hours. Because I am an overachiever, I had that completed within an hour. :) I had water and diet cream soda in a can. I love cream soda so I figured that would be my treat of the day.
By 12:52, I was already spending a lot of time in the bathroom. It was pretty constant until around 4 when I got a little break.
I did my 6 pm dose and for some reason I could feel the liquid turning warm while i was stirring it. I added two ice cubes to it as I had read that it is nasty if it isn't cold. It actually was much easier with the ice cubes and didn't even have the weird after taste. Drinking 5 ounces of a lemonade tasting drink is nothing. Easy Peasy.
I did start having some popsicles and white grape juice around 5. I was feeling a little puny I guess because i hadn't had any calories. It really helped, so i have tried to have something with calories pretty often since then.
I am supposed to do a shower with antibacterial soap tonight or tomorrow. I was thinking I would do it in the morning so I would be ultra clean before going in. I know after being in the hospital bed for a few days makes you feel disgusting, so hopefully starting with a good shower will help :)
I am not sure that my prep has done all the work it needs to do yet, but I hope that it will before the morning. I am leaving the house at 6:45 because I am supposed to be there at 7:15. My surgery is scheduled for 8:45.
See you tomorrow! I hope I am going to be able to sleep. 1
So, last night at midnight, I switched over to "clear" liquids only. Apparently coffee and diet coke count as clear liquids which I don't understand, but I did have a diet coke late last night but none today.
Before colon surgery, you have to do a bowel prep similar to when you have a colonoscopy. For my colonoscopy in December, I had to take Ducolax tablets and drink miralax in 64 ounces of gatorade. It was disgusting and it made me so very nauseated. My surgeon gave me a fairly new bowel prep called Prepopik. It is SO much better than the traditional kind. It is two pouches of powder that you mix with 5 ounces of cold water each time. Then, you just drink whatever "clear" liquids you want and that is it! While I am pretty sure that no bowel prep is ever a fun event, this has been very tolerable.
I spent $145 at Publix today getting supplies - clear liquids, Jello, popsicles, italian ice and things for when I get home like pudding and ice cream. I got Morgan some snacks for the hospital and some other things like face wipes and such to hopefully not feel so disgusting while i am there.
Here are pictures of the kit and instructions.
Here is me mixing the first batch at 12:00.
Here is my drinking the first batch (Proof that it isn't that horrible)
I will admit that right after this was taken, I did get a bit of an aftertaste that made me gag a little. But I think I just wasn't expecting it. It was kind of like when you take a big swig of a liquor and all the sudden it kind of has a backlash at the end. It was still easy and tasted pretty much like lemonade.
I then had to drink 40 ounces of "Clear" liquids over the next 5 hours. Because I am an overachiever, I had that completed within an hour. :) I had water and diet cream soda in a can. I love cream soda so I figured that would be my treat of the day.
By 12:52, I was already spending a lot of time in the bathroom. It was pretty constant until around 4 when I got a little break.
I did my 6 pm dose and for some reason I could feel the liquid turning warm while i was stirring it. I added two ice cubes to it as I had read that it is nasty if it isn't cold. It actually was much easier with the ice cubes and didn't even have the weird after taste. Drinking 5 ounces of a lemonade tasting drink is nothing. Easy Peasy.
I did start having some popsicles and white grape juice around 5. I was feeling a little puny I guess because i hadn't had any calories. It really helped, so i have tried to have something with calories pretty often since then.
I am supposed to do a shower with antibacterial soap tonight or tomorrow. I was thinking I would do it in the morning so I would be ultra clean before going in. I know after being in the hospital bed for a few days makes you feel disgusting, so hopefully starting with a good shower will help :)
I am not sure that my prep has done all the work it needs to do yet, but I hope that it will before the morning. I am leaving the house at 6:45 because I am supposed to be there at 7:15. My surgery is scheduled for 8:45.
See you tomorrow! I hope I am going to be able to sleep. 1
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