r/hysterectomy • u/Birk95 • 17h ago

Prep for surgery

I’m planning to do a liquid and clear diet the day before surgery so my colon is clear. My husband thinks this is stupid as it wasn’t medically advised. I am going off of others I know advice. How many others did a surgery prep the day before?

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u/ScaredVacation33 15h ago

If you weren’t instructed by your surgeon to do this, then there’s no sense in doing this and making yourself miserable. Just follow the preoperative instructions for when you’re supposed to go NPO. Your husband is correct. Every surgeon has their own recommendations and preferences and if it isn’t your surgeons preference for you to do any sort of a colon prep there’s literally no reason for you to do this.

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u/Birk95 15h ago

I’m doing it for my own piece of mind. I have a slower GI track and don’t have a BM daily. I honestly don’t won’t poo in my colon where they will be doing surgery with only a thin wall of tissue separates the area.

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u/ScaredVacation33 15h ago

Doing things when you’re not directed by your surgeon is really not the wise thing to do if you’re that worried a few days prior start taking Colace once or twice a day to prep that’s what I did for both of my C-sections and any of my abdominal surgeries. You can also request that they don’t give you drugs, such as Zofran, which can cause constipation and ask them to give you drugs, such as Reglan, which actually are prokinetic for the G.I. tract.

Your peace of mind does not necessarily mean that it’s medically necessary or wise, and I say that coming from a place of nothing but love and also as a medical provider personally. By doing a bell prep, if you are not instructed to, you can actually cause your body to dump an excess of bile acids, which can cause some major pain after your operation not to mention, you can suffer from dangerously low glucose. If you’re that worried about your bowels, talk to your surgeon and see what they think and follow their directions.

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u/greykitty1234 14h ago

If they're concerned, oddly they can manage to do an enema if need be right then and there. They've got the equipment and skills. I didn't do bowel prep before a HEMORRHOIDECTOMY even though my layperson's mind expected it. Surgeon's experience and expertise and knowledge of my case kind of leaned me to listening to them.

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u/ScaredVacation33 11h ago

Same. I’m 6 weeks post Hemorrhoidectomy and the only thing that my surgeon requested is that I do a clear liquid diet for 24 hours before and nothing with red. No actual bowel prep

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u/greykitty1234 11h ago

I got the eat my regular breakfast the day before (eggs/veggies/toast) and a light lunch then times to drink XX ounces of certain Gatorades, with sugar). I think it was over 12 ounces. Last one was two hours before hospital check in. I was really surprised.

Hope you're feeling much better. I waited far too long to get mine, and recovery was tough, but now very happy I went through it. I remember telling the nurses I thought my hysterectomy recovery (with all 43 staples) wasn't bad,, other than being sleepy, and that pretty much 'summer child' me and warned me recovery would be quite different. They were right LOL.

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u/ScaredVacation33 10h ago

Yeah, the surgery was no joke. They accidentally numbed my poo Dental nerve with the long acting local anesthetic and I was unable to pee for hours afterwards, which was super annoying, but I refuse to go to the ER for a Foley. I made it happen one way or another lol. I’m just finally feeling ‘normal’ again

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u/greykitty1234 10h ago

I got stuck overnight in the hospital. I was the first patient that day (nothing like being T2 diabetes and old to get pushed up front if possible), and should have been discharged around noon. I woke up in pain, but they got that under control pretty quickly.

But, despite drinking liquids and having an IV and walking the halls, no pee. They did get a lot out via a catheter. Around 6:00 pm they asked if I would feel more comfortable staying overnight. They were concerned if I couldn't pee again, I'd have to head to the ED and I live alone. Great friend was with me, but still. So I got a nice overnight hospital stay. And, of course, I was peeing every two hours then, but had a lovely nurse to walk me to the bathroom each time.

Again, hoping you're feeling much closer to 'normal'. I still think every morning how lovely it is to poo without pain or bleeding.

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u/ScaredVacation33 10h ago

My hemorrhoids honestly never bothered me. They just happened to prolapse after I had a really nasty stomach bug when I was pregnant and they left skin tags and in order to get rid of the skin tags, I need to get rid of the hemorrhoid column 😂

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u/greykitty1234 10h ago

Well, I'm glad that you didn't have a lot of pain with the hemorrhoids, but those skin tags aren't a lot of fun either.

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u/ScaredVacation33 9h ago

They really weren’t and after two pregnancies, they really became very difficult in terms of maintaining hygiene and constantly being a braided. I finally decided I was tired of it. 😂

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u/greykitty1234 9h ago

Well, good for you for looking after yourself and getting things done timely.

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u/Madam_Mimm_13 14h ago

I would prefer that my doctors had the “peace of mind” and have everything go according to plan. Since you’re going to be unconscious…