coming up to four weeks two weeks of hell

[JohnCalderwood]

Great surgery only 2.5 hours. Good week in the hospital. Yes hit by a bus a few days but to be expected. Released home to my parents. As isolated as I could get. Sure enough my 12 year who stays over here two nights a week comes home with a stomach flu that 16 out of 27 kids in his class get. Bingo in one day my slowly but steady and consistant recovery takes a wild turn back. I go back to about day 4 in the hospital. One hour of vomiting and I go to emerg. They put the IV in. Pump me full of solution and give me gravol.I go home after 8 hours. Then a week of hell. Full blown flu. Aches in muscles I never knew I had. One night a mystery guy I could not see decided to push on the pressure point on my trap all night long. He was pushing on it in rythym ever second. Then the worst and if anyone can give me some advice how to deal with this freakin thing I would be very thankful. A fricken hemerroid I developed in the hospital. Funny thing that my heart has been that absolute least of my concerns it my fricken ass that is killing me. If anyone has any home remedies or solutions please let me know. You can email me privately if it is more comfortable. Anyway a week later and I think I am ready to move forward. Good thing is for one week I had absolutely no desire to do anything but rest. Just cant believe I go through heart surgery and the flu and a massive pain in the ass gets me in the end. Anyway I must be getting better since I am posting. Take care and enjoy every healthy day.

 

[ALCapshaw2]

Did your Surgeon prescribe a Stool Softener with your discharge orders?
If not, that might be a good place to start. Also take some Fiber (tablets, fruits, vegetables, high fiber cereals, etc.)
Have you told your Primary Care Physician about these issues?

'AL C'

 

[JohnCalderwood]

I was initially given a stool softener in the hospital after 4 days of constipation ( heard it is common). I am pretty sure this is what started the hemmorroids. When things got normal I think they stopped giving it to me. I have seen two gp's who seemed less than concerned. Apparently the over the counter suppository's with bio -dyne are as good as any prescription. I have cereal with physillum in the morning and a huge salad every night. . Vegetables and a bit of meat for dinner. Meals mostly of fibre. Still not hard or soft Just medium stool. I think gillette has started making vegetables with a complimentary blade in every pack. I wish I could buy one of those bidays I think it is called,. Maybe I will hook up the garden hose with a fine spray attachment and give it a good clean. Baths seem to help. Cotton swabs. Enough said. Man the things you can talk about when you are sick. No shame. The stool softener is a good thought though maybe I will mention it to my GP. Just have to be carefull not to go to far to the soft side.

 

[Guest]

Man the things you can talk about when you are sick. No shame.

Dude! Buy some of the TUCKS pads in a jar. They have witchhazel and it soothes the bottom. You can use them after you go too. You can also buy some Preparation H suppositories if necessary. Don't ignore bleeding at any time. Did not see your tag line so if you are taking coumadin, you may want to watch bleeding with your INR.

 

[Bina]

John, sorry to hear about the complications. Unfortunately school aged children can be germ laden little critters. and the flu can be a real hazzard to a post op person. Anyway, hopefully that has resolved.
Stool softeners ( hospital gave me a red gel pill daily) are a good idea for a couple of weeks until your system can regulate and you are having consistent daily poo. Straining is not good for a recovering heart. Eating fiber is great as long as fluids are consumed equally.
YES, buy some of those Tuks pads for hemorroids, they are fantastic. Stick one between your cheeks and relax, overnight the Prep H cream is good.
After childbirth I had one of those Sitz bath things that is a plastic type of bowl that sits on the toilet, you fill it with warm water and
just park yourself on it a few times a day. It is sooo very soothing.
Rest and rest some more.

 

[Philip B]

Flu

Flu

Yeah, it sounds like you caught a bad break. Crud like the flu just takes some time...hang in there and follow your doctor's advice. Hopefully, things will improve soon. I have home cures for a lot of ailments, but a cure for the flu isn't one of them.

The raw butt thing is a real pain. I just spent three days in a cycling coaching class and here I sit in the St. Louis Airport and mine's raw too. None of the vending machines have anything to address the problem...what's with that?

-Philip

 

[JohnCalderwood]

Great advice guys. I am going to look into buying one of those sitz baths. Sounds better than a garden hose up the butt. The tucks pad sound good too. I am male though you know. I wont start ovulating will I ? At this point I dont care as long as it works. If I go and buy all this stuff I am sure this problem will magically disappear. I have given up on the suppository's didnt seem to help much and made too much of a mess. Depends would have helped but then I would have to say 42 year old pad and depend wearing male seeking............

 

[JohnCalderwood]

I was originally worried about the bleeding but my INR is in perfect range and the bleeding did stop. That is a great sign. That would have looked good in the papers. Man survives ohs avr but dies weeks later from a bleeding hemmorroid. I shouldn't joke I geuss it is possible.

 

[ottagal]

John,
Sorry to hear about all those 'bumps' and who needs hemorrhoids on top of that. I hope every day gets better. Glad to hear your INR is in perfect range despite all of this!

 

[Ross]

Hey don't knock those Tucks pads! If your butt really bothers you bad, try them and I bet you'll be thankful for them too.

 

[karen14]

Hi John, glad you're doing better after your surgery! But man! What hell you've been through, poor guy lol. I found your post very amusing, only because I can relate, lol. Sorry, no offense. But good old fashioned OTC Prep H is great for hemmeroids (sp?). Or if more is needed a good proctologist has some fancy creams he can prescribe. Anyway, I can't imagine having the flu while recovering! Eke. Glad you're on the uphill track now though! Stay strong, ~Karen

 

[JohnCalderwood]

After only learning about the "tucks" pad yesterday from you guys I am now the new marketing guy. "Cool and Calming Tucks pads kick ass" I also think Depend would benifit by teaming up with Prep H. They should put a coupon inside every package of Prep H and Anusal +. It would make cleanup a lot better. The things you think of when you have too much time on your hands and your sick. Seriously those tucks are good. Thank you. I am reluctantly meeting my cardiologist tommorrow. I don't like him much. I should have changed a while ago. Actually tried but was talked out of it by my G.P. I am afraid he is going to give me a hard time about not walking enough the last week. I was lucky if I could walk from the bedroom to the bathroom. I will tell him if he can get rid of my hemmoroid I will jog around his fricken building. Lots of issues with this guy but won't get into it. I could kick his butt but I have to be carefull now that I am on warfarin and he could get a lucky lick in. Just joking of course. Take care.

 

[james]

I noticed that when I got off the pain meds my poop got to be normal. My first few days out of hospital I blew an "O" ring too. Not you got something to make that better get out and start walking. You will get so much healthier faster if you do.

 

[Luana]

Well, I'm glad you've kept your sense of humor! No, you will not start ovulating, but if you really get concerned, you can always schedule an Ob-Gyn appointment.

I don't know if you happened to bring home any of the wet-wipes they may have had in the hospital. The ones they gave me were almost as a big as a baby blanket, and were microwavable. Warmth is soothing, too, sometimes.

If you're not feeling well, rest is good. You can always walk later. My first month-and-half out of the hospital was not a whole heck of a lot of fun. Better days will be coming for you. Take care!

 

[starburstcoral]

Tucks pads, sitz bath, and after you have a BM take a shower or bath, the reason is that if any bm- even a small part stays on the hemmoroid it will just irritate it further and make things worse. Sorry to hear about the flu & thanks for telling me that. I may have my husband stay isolated after he comes home from surgery. Feel better soon.

 

[JohnCalderwood]

Luana. Thank you for letting me know that your first 6 weeks were tough too. I thought I was going to breeze throgh this thing which was my first wrong thought. It seems like I get a good day or two. Have good walk feel like I am recovering then bam it seems a full blown flu kicks in. Lasts three days I have a good day or two and bam another three days of flu. Body aches, I am freezing, reluctantly take a pain killer then get naseaus. All the while Johnny Cash singing burn burn burn I have the ring of fire. Even that gives me a day where I think I have it beat and it is going away and then bam that flares up. I have been a good boy too no lifting. I wanna take a long walk off a short pier.

 

[Lynlw]

Luana. Thank you for letting me know that your first 6 weeks were tough too. I thought I was going to breeze throgh this thing which was my first wrong thought. It seems like I get a good day or two. Have good walk feel like I am recovering then bam it seems a full blown flu kicks in. Lasts three days I have a good day or two and bam another three days of flu. Body aches, I am freezing, reluctantly take a pain killer then get naseaus. All the while Johnny Cash singing burn burn burn I have the ring of fire. Even that gives me a day where I think I have it beat and it is going away and then bam that flares up. I have been a good boy too no lifting. I wanna take a long walk off a short pier.

Are you sure it is the flu?The body aches, freezing ect can be the sign of an infection after surgery

Editted to add, I saw you went to the cardiologist the other day. What testing did you have done?

 

[JohnCalderwood]

I had blood work done last Friday when I felt like crap. Got the results on Saturday and my Gp said everything looked fine. I asked him how my white blood count was. He said a little high and then said you are definitly fighting something. He took a wait and see approach. I got much better last Saturday. Also when I saw my cardioologist on Tuesday I was having one of my good days. He said I looked great. And I did. One step forward two steps back. One foot forward two steps back. My wife thinks I might be depressed because I am sleeping through the day a lot. I always seem to sleep better during the day then at night. I think while I am tossing and turning at night I end up on my side and this may be causing the collar bone pain.My cardioologist didnt do much testing just a lot of questions. He is going to book me for a echo though.

 

[JohnCalderwood]

Lyn. What could be infected?

 

[Ross]

I was originally worried about the bleeding but my INR is in perfect range and the bleeding did stop. That is a great sign. That would have looked good in the papers. Man survives ohs avr but dies weeks later from a bleeding hemmorroid. I shouldn't joke I geuss it is possible.

You'll soon realize that bleeding while on Coumadin, unless your way far too high, is not a problem. If you could die from a bleeding hemmorriod, I'd be dead already. Now, if they had you on Lovenox or Heparin, then I'm sure it would be more then a usual bleeding event. That stuff is 100 times worse then Coumadin.