Hi, my husband caliman just had his surgery today and he has been in the bath for over an hour and a half and the last piece of gauze will not come out. It is more than half way out but hasn't moved for twenty minutes. we are getting a little worn out and the heat of the bath is exhausting him. We need help with any suggestions of how to get this last piece out. I'm worried that pulling might hurt something. Please help

Just read Davo's thread about surgery and he said that as it wouldn't come out he tugged at it a bit which worked. But it did increase his pain for a short time. He said his was meant to come out in the first bm but that didn't happen for 2 days (like me). It may come out with his first time fo going to the loo. Sorry I can't be of more help to you, will keep looking on the threads to see if theres any more info :)

Thank you so much. he is laying in bed now, he is tired and in pain but decided to leave the gauze in and wait till he has a BM. He was doing fine all day after surgery, until the sitz bath. Can anybody please give me ideas on what he can eat after the surgery? He had not eaten in two days, and today after surgery he has eaten three Popsicle. I know he can only eat foods that are easy to digest, but your experience will be helpful.

2 days? Oh my gosh! It may take a while to have a bowel movement then! Tell him not to strain at all, I am taking one sachet of movicol a day and this is helping to get things moving. It took me 2 days to have a bm following surgery and I hadn't eaten for only 18 hours. I am eating a normal healthy diet, so no cakes/biscuits etc. Just cereal for breakfast, a wholemeal roll, soup, banana and crackers for lunch and something healthy for tea such as chicken and veggies. I'd say to try and eat some veggies and food to keep things moving, so some fibre but not too much. I'm a bit different as I have IBS so it kind of means I have a boring diet. But I would imagine veggies, some fruit (pears and bananas are meant to be good) :)

Sue has some good advice. it is important to start eating again both for healing and to avoid constipation. If his stomach is still feeling sensitive from the anesthesia, just start off with some oatmeal, applesauce, mild vegetable soups and some fruit smoothies (the blending of fruits in a blender makes them easier to digest) and begin to build from there.
Wishing him all the best in his healing!

I want to thank you guys for your help. I am realizing that the recovery is not going to be as easy as I would have liked, but the pain has not been too bad. I appreciate all you wishes, but I probably will have questions coming as the days go by.
Today I woke up with minor stomach pain and growling, I know it's from hunger. I would like to ask you guys about your first BM. After you go/went, did you wipe? did you take a sitz bath? I can feel I probably will not have a BM today just a lot of growling and feeling hunger. As I type my wife is making me a bowl of oatmeal and I'll probably have some jello too. The gauze is still there, I am fearful of pulling it. Later today I will eat a soup with boiled vegetables. The truth is I am afraid of the first BM. I really want to Thank You guys for being here.
As for the surgery itself the doctor said it went really well. I was under general anesthesia, the surgery itself, I don't have any thoughts or memory of it. I was really scared going in, having the IV hooked up, the wait right before surgery is really the scariest part. When I woke up, I was so happy I was in the recovery room. Once again Thank You.

I wanted to be clear on what my condition is/was. I had a tear about 1 1/2 to 2 inches inside of me, the fissure. I had a skin tag the the doctor said was about an inch. he skin tag itself was so old, I waited too long. according to the doctor the edges around the skin tag were dried up and white and rubbing against the tear itself, that it was never going to heal by itself. He said he cut the skin tag off. That he cut in some kind of "diamond shape" so as it heals it comes together evenly and smooth. I'm on Docustate sodium-100 MG (stool softener) and on Norco 10-325.

No problem. Hope you start to feel better real soon. The CRS gave me 10 sachets of movicol and said to take 2 per day, however with having IBS I was a little wary. I have stuck to one sachet in the morning and docusate sodium (100mg) at night. My first bm was pretty uneventful. With the movicol it just slid out (sorry if too much detail!). Afterwards I dabbed with a damp cotton wool ball (as this is what I have always done), only to get rid of the excess this time though. I then got in the shower and gently used the shower head, and followed this with sitting in the portable bidet (equivalent to a sitz bath) for 2-3 mins to make sure it was clean. Today however I just dabbed with the cotton wool and sat in the bidet for a short time. This seemed to clean it sufficiently and I haven't had too much bother. I wouldn't wipe, use the shower if you can and you can use a hairdryer (obv on cold setting!) to dry, as some people have done this. I hope your first bm goes ok, just keep eating the healthy food and relax! Hard to do I know but if you are tense it will make things worse. Gosh you had a large tear then, may take a while to completely heal but you will get there. You are on the way, things can only get better from here! :)

caliman
you may want to consider adding something like Miralax to your regimen. if you are taking Norco for pain, this is very constipating. Combined with the fact that you haven't had much to eat in the last couple of days, and the fact that anesthesia also slows things down in the intestines, you would probably have an easier time with your BMs during your healing if you had some extra help softening the stool and keeping things moving. Most people here on the board recovering from surgery have found Miralax or its equivalent very helpful.
The first BM following surgery brings enough anxiety on its own. Keeping things soft and easy to pass is essential.
Again, best wishes to you, and I hope you get to feeling better very soon!