Re: Re: post surgery not allowed to carry anything over 10lbs

[Guest guest]

Jodi,

Maybe a backpack with wheels and a telescoping handle, like my kids have for school, might work. It would work for walking in the city, but you'd have to lift it up bus steps, so it wouldn't work for that. Going down or up subway stairs might be a problem with it. However, for just a walk,, it could make you independent. We got them at Land's End. I'm sure you could google it and find it in the city.

Terry

Re: post surgery not allowed to carry anything over 10lbs

Hi Marilyn,I live in NYC so I walk a lot and take public transportation. I don't use a car. When I leave the house I take food with me. I guess my brother will just carry everything for 5 weeks and then I will have to reassess.The surgeon said getting out of bed is the hardest part. Was that true for you after your surgery?Also, how did the anesthesia affect you this time as opposed to the nightmare you had with your GallBladder surgery? What did they do different for you?Did you get an Epidural before your procedure?Jodi> I have to say that given my 24" incision, and the > fact that the drainage bulbs weren't removed > until about 6 weeks after the surgery, that I > didn't go anywhere that I didn't have a beast o' > burden (aka, my husband!) with me. So I just > packed normally, let my husband carry the bag, and I maneuvered my walker!

[Guest guest]

Jodi,

Maybe a backpack with wheels and a telescoping handle, like my kids have for school, might work. It would work for walking in the city, but you'd have to lift it up bus steps, so it wouldn't work for that. Going down or up subway stairs might be a problem with it. However, for just a walk,, it could make you independent. We got them at Land's End. I'm sure you could google it and find it in the city.

Terry

Re: post surgery not allowed to carry anything over 10lbs

Hi Marilyn,I live in NYC so I walk a lot and take public transportation. I don't use a car. When I leave the house I take food with me. I guess my brother will just carry everything for 5 weeks and then I will have to reassess.The surgeon said getting out of bed is the hardest part. Was that true for you after your surgery?Also, how did the anesthesia affect you this time as opposed to the nightmare you had with your GallBladder surgery? What did they do different for you?Did you get an Epidural before your procedure?Jodi> I have to say that given my 24" incision, and the > fact that the drainage bulbs weren't removed > until about 6 weeks after the surgery, that I > didn't go anywhere that I didn't have a beast o' > burden (aka, my husband!) with me. So I just > packed normally, let my husband carry the bag, and I maneuvered my walker!

[Guest guest]

I live in NYC so I walk a lot

and take public transportation. I don't use a car.

If you don't have a handicapped ID, or whatever the public transportation

equivalent is, be sure to ask your surgeon for one before he releases you

-- although if you are using a walker as I was, it will be pretty

obvious. Be prepared to allow extra time to get anywhere, and to make

sure you use handicapped lifts to get on and off the transportation. I

was told that I should not attempt to climb steps for at least six weeks

after my surgery.

When I leave the house I take

food with me. I guess my brother will just carry everything for 5 weeks

and then I will have to reassess.

Exactly! Take this whole business a bit at a time! For instance, I can

now carry my food bag just fine... and I can carry the dry weight of my

swim bag OK, but although I've surrendered the walker for everything

else, I still use it to sling my swim bag on going into and coming out of

the fitness center because the wet weight is too heavy for me. (It's

getting much better recently, though.)

Maybe you could use a rolling bag for stuff, but you would need to use

those handicapped lifts so you weren't trying to haul it on and off the

transportation. Subway steps could be a real issue, too. Look for

handicapped elevators.

The surgeon said getting out of

bed is the hardest part. Was that true for you after your

surgery?

I was very shaky the first time. I made up my mind absolutely that I

would get out of bed as soon as they would let me and move around,

because moving around gets your guts functioning again after the

shut-down from the anesthesia. The sooner it is functioning again (and

you pass gas and all) the sooner they will let you have something other

than ice chips to suck on!

My oncologist was really pleased with the fact that I was able to get up

Wednesday morning (the surgery was on Monday afternoon) and walk to the

hall and back. Thursday morning and afternoon, I made it out to the hall,

and around the nurses station, and back to my room. And Friday morning,

she released me. But of course, the hospital paperwork took so long, we

didn't get out of there until 5p.

I strongly recommend that you take a cab rather than public

transportation going home from the hospital, if you do not have an

automobile available. You won't be moving fast, and in fact, renting a

wheel chair for that event would be a GREAT idea. They'll take you out to

your cab in a hospital wheel chair, usually. Oh, and I forgot to mention

-- have a small pillow to put between your gut and the seat belt. That's

a trick I learned from the HysterSisters website -- it spreads the

pressure of the seatbelt out so it's not pressing on your incision(s).

Although small walks are essential, you don't want to try walking very

far.

Also, how did the anesthesia

affect you this time as opposed to the nightmare you had with your

GallBladder surgery? What did they do different for

you?

What they did differently for me was multifold between the oncology

procedure and a " same day " gall bladder procedure. For the

cancer surgery, first of all, they started an IV as soon as I was in my

gown and washed up. (I had to shower at home with really strong soap, and

then when I got to the hospital, cleanse my abdomen and all with some

really strong antiseptic.)

For the gallbladder procedure, I wasn't allowed anything to eat or drink

after midnight, and then, although I was at the hospital at 6a, they did

not give me IV fluids and did not begin the procedure until noon, so I

was horribly dehydrated.

With the cancer surgery, when I woke up, Harry was allowed in to see me,

then they moved me to a room, which was ready. I was a bit groggy,

as much from the morphine drip (which I controlled) for the pain, and I

tended to doze off after very short intervals. But I was able to move

around in the bed a bit to find a comfortable position... well, as

comfortable as lying on your back can be! (I'm normally a side sleeper,

but with staples from past my hipcrest, down to the pubic mound, and back

over the other hipcrest, lying on my side wasn't an option!) My surgeon

made sure I was properly hydrated throughout. She had discussed the

possibility of up to two units of blood (and Harry and a friend were

standing by to donate for me), but I needed neither.

With the gallbladder, I remember lying in a bed in the same-day surgery

wing, and struggling desperately to wake up. I would open my eyes,

struggle to move, and just couldn't. I remember they tried to get me out

of bed because they wanted to send me home. I remember sitting on the

edge of the bed, and saying, just a minute, let me get my balance. I

remember the cool touch of the tile under my feet... and then I was lying

on the floor. I'd passed out. It took six people to get me back in the

bed, and at that point, they decided to admit me. I was so dehydrated

that I took four bags of IV fluid just to get my blood pressure up

somewhere near normal. And, because of the dehydration, when they did get

me hydrated, then I was anemic. (My liver enzymes had also gone off the

chart because of the gallbladder.) They were actually discussing giving

me a transfusion I was so anemic.

For the cancer surgery, they put in a urine catheter, and I wasn't

expected to get out of bed for about 36 hours. Since I discussed with the

anesthesiologist how horrible my experience was, he was very careful

about what he did and used, and, as he pointed out, anesthesia drugs had

been developed further in the previous seven years.

For the gallbladder, they kept trying to get me out of bed so I could

pee, (well, once they got enough fluid in me that I had something to pee

with!) and I kept passing out and having to be picked up off the floor

and put back in bed. I had some serious bruises from all the falls. They

finally put a catheter in around 36 hours after the surgery.

With the cancer surgery, I was up and moving as soon as they allowed

it.

With the gallbladder, it took 72 hours before I could stagger as far as

the bathroom.

In short, the gallbladder surgery was a horrible nightmare that I

couldn't wake up from.

The cancer surgery, although incredibly more complex and, as my surgeon

said so cheerfully, " challenging, " was actually far less

traumatic.

Did you get an Epidural before

your procedure?

No, they didn't. Actually, I saw my acupuncturist the day of the surgery,

and he did a treatment for heart and lung support (to help me handle the

anesthesia better) and for long-term pain relief. I think it worked.

Ironically, I had more pain issues in my hips (which were from my

at-that-point-undiagnosed complex sleep apnea) than I did in my gut from

the surgery!

My major issue with pain relief for the cancer surgery was that it did

not occur to me to check the inactive ingredients on the pain pills, and

it developed that they were chock-full of SCD-illegals. (Did you know

prescription Motrin uses lactose as a filler?)

And, as it developed, this WAS an issue, because what I perceived as

on-going surgical pain turned out to be gut-spasms from the lactose in

the Motrin. However, it had its good side, because that got me sent to

the pain management doctor, who sent me for my sleep test, and now I no

longer have hip pain because I'm sleeping properly, with my Bipap Auto

SV.

Surgery is not something I would seek out. And I plan to do everything I

can to avoid future surgeries (next labs the end of this month!). But

with a competent surgeon and advance preparation -- and the amazing

healing power of the Specific Carbohydrate Diet, I did amazingly well on

the cancer surgery.

You know how much better you did with all your endoscopy after being on

SCD, and those experiences were a far cry from your earlier

ones!

I'm keeping my mind clearly on the thought that this one will be, if not

a piece of (pecan flour) cake, so much better than you fear. I won't say

you'll ever look back on it and say, " Why was I afraid? "

because I know exactly why I was freaking out for mine! My reasons and

yours are still valid. But you know now how to heal. And that, as I can

testify, is one of the biggest boons this diet can give us!

—

Marilyn

New

Orleans, Louisiana, USA

Undiagnosed IBS since 1976, SCD since 2001

Darn Good SCD Cook

No Human Children

Shadow & Sunny Longhair Dachshund