Yesterday was a day of ups and downs with some good progress being made in getting out of bed and sitting in a chair but it’s still uncomfortable laying down which makes sleeping rather difficult and painful.
Dealing with the Pain
Throughout most of yesterday I was still on the morphine pump but by the evening that had been taken away. Probably best not to rely on it but could have used it during the night.
There are currently two pain points, the rectum which is more straightforward to deal with and then there’s the abdominal pain. It ranges between discomfort and pain and is a strange sensation. When laying in bed your abdomen weirdly feels really heavy as if it’s sinking into the bed and oddly feels a bit numb to touch.
The Stoma
The stoma is still only releasing wind and the food I’ve been eating hasn’t made its way through. This is normal but I hope it kicks in sooner rather than later. Yesterday I observed a stoma nurse changing my bag and can confirm that the stoma is gross looking – must post a photo! I may get to change my own bag today!
Discovering How My Butt Was Sewn Up
When I signed up for the surgery I knew that part of the procedure would be to completely remove the rectum and anus and I had a vague idea what this would entail. It transpires that how I thought the procedure would be undertaken was completely wrong.
The procedure called an abdominoperineal resection doesn’t just stitch up the hole (which is what I thought would happen), instead it permanently joins the butt cheeks together! The nurse who checked the wound was new to the ward and had only seen one before so was as equally as surprised as me when we discovered what had been done! I guess my days of wearing thongs are over!
