Bowels tip before surgery

This may be a TMI post for some. So skip it if you don’t want to hear poop talk. But if I can spare even one person a day like this, it would be worth it….

Day 3 PO here. Ok, I thought I was on top of this - daily Colace, extra hydration, high fiber, Smooth Move tea and Miralax from the day of the surgery. I didn’t poop day one or two. Day two I had some urges but thought since I had eaten lightly, no big deal. I stopped taking my Norco at 6AM day 2. So I only took opioids from 2pm Thursday to 6AM Saturday. Today, I am managing (thankfully) minimal pain on alternating Advil/Tylenol, doses and Arnica Montana and Bromelain.

Today was by far my worst day but not surgically, because it took literally from 10AM to 5PM to try to go to the bathroom. It was hell on earth. I finally had to resort to an enema and even that was not easy. The whole day I was desperately trying not to strain.

I found out that Versed, Propofol, Fentanyl (my anesthesia) and Exparel all have constipation as a side effect. My doctor did prescribe me Rx Colace. But if you know that you can be “slow” at times, do yourself the favor and prep yourself very well beforehand. You will be grateful.

Edited for clarity: I am not recommending a laxative before without your surgeon’s approval. I would have been better suited by having done more liquids and easy to digest foods before my surgery. AFTER surgery, do not wait too long without going. I could have saved myself trouble by acting on it earlier yesterday.