Husband broke down last night

[mpbser]

Long story short and more to come: Yesterday's ride home was excruciating. He described it as THE worst pain he has ever been aware of, so discounting the moments of coming out of surgery and needing morphine, in his entire life. Every bump in the road caused pain and the harder the bump the worse the pain. The twists and turns on the hills closer to home were also bad. This was WITH the maximum dosage of oxicontin.

So glad he is sleeping at home now. Finally, some good rest.

[LeonW]

[quote="mpbser"So glad he is sleeping at home now. Finally, some good rest.[/quote]
Sad to hear
Wish both of you recovery. Hope you can take it easy / can rest for a while.
L

[NHMike]

A four hour drive after 3 days recovery sounded rough. Here's to a good rest and recovery period.

This has some impact on how I need to plan my recovery in a few months. I was planning on driving myself home. Doesn't sound like a good idea at this point.

[mpbser]

Mike, What kind of surgery are you having in a few months?

[NHMike]

Remove rectal tumor, put in a temp or permanent bag depending on what the surgeon finds. Her estimate was 3-5 days in the hospital. I'm in a similar situation but only an hour away if there's no traffic. I don't have someone to drive me right now and was going to do it myself but it sounds like that's a bad idea. I may spend a few days recuperating locally at my mother's house before going home. Stuff is up in the air right now.

We have another thread with two guys that had surgery and went home pretty soon afterwards so I guess things can work out well but I'm finding out that there's a wide range of response to cancer treatments.

[MissMolly]

Mpber:
Home is where true healing begins.

A 4+ hour drive after a 3 day inpatient stay for a colon resection would be tough for anyone to handle - even with a mindful driver at the wheel making every effort to avoid bumps and abrupt turns on the roadway.

My sense is that entrapped air in the intestinal tract and under the diaphragm was the likely culprit causing your DH's extreme spikes in pain.

When I experienced an intestinal perforation a few years ago, I had free air in my abdomen. I recall the pain as excruciating. Rolling down the hospital hallway on a gurney, any tiny bump sent my pain soaring. To this day, when a health provider asks me to "rate my pain" for any unrelated health issue, my point of reference and 10/10 pain rating is the pain I experienced from the perforation. Free air in the abdomen is excruciating.

I hope that being home brings your husband comfort in body and soul.

Your ceaseless and selfless caregiving for your husband is to be commended. Your role as spouse and caregiver is not an easy one. Remember to take some time each day for yourself and renewal. Taking care of "you" is as important as taking care of DH.
Karen

[mpbser]

Thanks, Karen/Molly. It is very true that healing begins here at home. I guess on balance it is for the best that we got home asap.

Mike, I would give serious thought to staying close to MGH until you are at least allowed to drive per discharge instructions. The restriction for my husband is "no driving until one week post surgery."

I cannot get over the vast differences between the surgery at MGH compared to the one he had at SVMC. Like night and day. I will post details later when I get a chance.

[NHMike]

Thanks, Karen/Molly. It is very true that healing begins here at home. I guess on balance it is for the best that we got home asap.

Mike, I would give serious thought to staying close to MGH until you are at least allowed to drive per discharge instructions. The restriction for my husband is "no driving until one week post surgery."

I cannot get over the vast differences between the surgery at MGH compared to the one he had at SVMC. Like night and day. I will post details later when I get a chance.

Yeah, I'll make arrangements locally. My mother doesn't have internet service so working from her home is going to require some effort. Though the way things are going, it sounds like working while recovering might not be a good idea.

[cbsmith]

Your surgeon will likely tell you that you can't drive for a while after the surgery, most likely longer after the surgery than when you are discharged.

[radnyc]

I felt similarly at one point, but I really believe after going through with Folfox, that the 5-10% is worth it. Hang in there!

[NHMike]

Your surgeon will likely tell you that you can't drive for a while after the surgery, most likely longer after the surgery than when you are discharged.

Thanks for the estimate. I understand that the full recovery typically takes a month but I didn't know about the driving restrictions.

[Aqx99]

You'll be amazed at your lack of abdominal strength after surgery. I had a robotic LAR and needed help sitting up and getting out of chairs and bed for almost 2 weeks after surgery. I started driving as soon as my abdominal strength started to come back. Also, don't forget that you will basically have been starved for almost a week by the time you leave. It starts with your prep the day before surgery, then being on a clear liquid diet in the hospital. I didn't get any real food until breakfast the day I was discharged.

[Basil]

Going to be different for everyone but there are good results! I drove myself home 48 hours after robotic LAR. No heroics on my part - the surgeon did a great job. I was really sore for about a week but could move around alright. Getting out of bed was difficult because it's a hard thing to do while trying to spare your abs.

[Aqx99]

You're lucky, Basil! I could have had more issues because my surgeon removed a few extra organs while he was in there, causing more damage.

[mpbser]

Husband is in the ER with pain and nausea. Earlier in the day, starting very early in the morning, the nausea we assume was from the oxycodone was getting so bad that he feared vomiting. Since that would be dangerous to do, we called MGH and explained what was going on. They contacted his local primary doctor whose office had the on-call doctor get back to us. Husband explained to him that tramadol, tylenol, and lyrica worked very well for him the last time. The doctor told him no more oxi, and prescribed him tramadol, although at a dosage that our surgeon friend says is half of what he would have prescribed. Also, no lyrica. He has taken his maximum dosage of pepcid and zofran for the gastric upset, but it hasn't been helping.

His BP is 200/100. MGH had him discontinue lasix and lisinopril until 7 days post surgery, so that probably explains the hypertensive crisis.

We are waiting on bloodwork. They may have him do a CT scan. I am at home which is only a few minute drive from our local hospital.