Four days away from spinal fusion surgery and my mind is racing. The oddities that I have been purchasing or acquiring has been very entertaining. Everything from colorful hoodies (zip up! as my arms will not be able to be raised above my head), grippy socks as fall protection, a raised toilet seat, a hand grabber, shower seat, and slip on shoes are all just part of my preparation procedures. My boyfriends mom is going to french braid my hair the day before which may remind me of my childhood but will save my sanity in the hospital. I am sure it would not help the recovery situation if my hair is a knotty mess and in my face without me being able to pull it back. Therefore, I am very grateful :). In addition, I have been pleasantly surprised with the love and support coming from so many caring friends and family, it relieves the stress knowing that people are here and will continue to be here to provide support after.
On a funny note, I have come to the conclusion that I have become way to comfortable discussing poop :) and therefore, I will continue with my comfortable conversation and explain why this is a topic that needs to be discussed. It is extremely common to experience constipation post surgery. With all the medications and pain killers being pumped through your system your body will definitely begin to back up. Now this may seem like a small issue but imagine insane bloating and stomach pain pushing back on your fragile spine (OUCH!). If the bloating and constipation gets too bad after you are released to go home you can even be rushed back to the emergency for an enima (ugh). The nurses / doctors will most likely prescribe laxatives to take with the medication which will help a lot. I was discussing this with my family Doctor (i.e. Dr. Justin Balko) to which he said that sometimes doctors prescribe medications which work but are extremely hard for your system to digest and can cause nausea. Therefore he recommended a laxative which he personally uses for his young children, it is called easy-lax and it can be picked-up at any local drug store. Supposedly, it is very easy on the stomach and just as effective as the harsher drugs given at the hospital (I sure hope it works - the last thing in this world I want is an enima!). So really my take away message from this is I need to remember to drink lots of prune juice, monitor my body, stay away from foods that cause bloating, and to use a laxative if needed.
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