I had my surgery yesterday, and all went well.  There are five holes in my body at the moment.  One for solid waste.  One for draining fluid (looks like bright-red, fake blood), and three that have been sutured that were the access points for the robot to do its job.  That’s right, kiddos, a ROBOT (not a robot like Johnny 5 or Robocop, but still pretty dang cool)!  The surgeon guided it along my torso while it worked on the incising, slicing and removing of my dearly departed large intestine.   This here video kinda shows it off and explains the procedure!

Apparently, around 3:30pm, the anesthesia started to wear off because I began to ask my wife to walk like a crab.  No idea where I was going with that one.  Her parents were in the room.

For those reading this in an effort to know what to expect prior to you own colectomy, I am not going to sugarcoat it: you will experience some pain.  Additionally, be prepared to look down and see a whole mess of tubes, iodine-tinted skin, shaved abdomen and pubic region (man-scaped!!!), dried blood here and there, a catheter to go along with the other tubes and lots of questions as to just how many incisions were made.

Along with this general discomfort and potential for embarrassment (pretty sure the entire 3rd floor of St. David’s has seen me in all my glory – nursing students included) you must listen to your body.  Tell your nurses and doctors where the hurt is.  Describe it.  Know your adjectives and anatomy!

For example, I felt like I had to go to the bathroom, but I was told it must be something else because I had a catheter in.  Turns out the catheter had gotten back-up; hence, my desire to go relieve myself.

Today I took a training in my hospital room on how to empty my ileostomy bag and clean it.  Very helpful considering I just finished lunch (Malt-O-Meal, chocolate pudding, apple sauce), and will be “filling ‘er up” shortly.

It’s only 2:30pm yet it feels like bedtime.  In my research prior to my surgery, I read from a number of patients that the first day of post-op is a doozy.  They weren’t kidding.  Here’s to a good night’s/day’s sleep!