Hemicolectomy & TAHBSO (Part 2)

The team of doctors came for their morning round at 8am and I was told that mom could be in the 3rd stage of cancer. The primary examination of the tumour removed indicated signs of the cancer cells aggressively attacked the wall of the colon but they must have to wait for the biopsy report which would be out in two weeks' time to conclude the findings.

Mom regained consciousness around 10am as I was told by hubby. I got hubby to take over our shift around 9.30am while my sister in-law and I went home to freshen up. I initially thought mom had come out from under anaesthesia when she responded to me calling her before we left.

I eagerly wanted to find out more about mom's illness from the team of doctors but Dr Tee advised me to take one step at a time and at this point in time, the crucial part was the recovery of mom from the surgery and they would not be able to confirm the type of cancer until the biopsy report was out.

Mom was one obedient and cooperative patient. She would do whatever instructed by the doctors. On the first day after operation, I was given a prescription slip to buy a pair of Comprinet Pro Anti-Embolism Stockings to prevent venous thromboembolism (clot in the blood that forms and blocks a blood vessel) in immobilized patients and a Incentive Tri-ball Spirometer for use to help patients improve the functioning of their lungs and in mom's case, surgery involving extended time under anaesthesia and help minimize the chance of fluid build-up in the lungs.

I returned to the hospital around 2.30pm as hubby had to attend to some work issues. He told me Prof. Dr Chin and his team had just left and mom was allowed to take sips of nutritious fluids such as Milo and milk. To play safe, mom started with sips of water but her urine output hadn't been much and she needed to drink more.

The surgery left mom with a wound that goes in a straight line from just below the breast bone (sternum) to just above the pelvis. Mom was still confined to bed as there were tubes hooked up all over her body.

A patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) device with intravenous morphine for post operative pain control was hooked up intravenously on mom. It is a means for the patient to self-administer analgesics (pain medications) intravenously by using a computerized pump, which introduces specific doses into an intravenous line. Mom was advised to press a hand-held button connected to the machine for delivery of specific doses of medication into the vein to relief pain whenever it became unbearable. I told mom to press the button only when the pain was too much for her to bear because overdosing would give adverse side effects such as nausea, a dangerous drop in the rate and effectiveness of breathing and excessive sedation.

There was a thin tube that passes down mom's nose into the stomach (nasogastric tube). This allows any fluids to be removed from your stomach so that you don’t feel sick. It is normally taken out within two days.

A small tube (catheter) is put into mom's bladder, and the urine is drained through this into a collecting bag. This will save you having to get up to pass urine, and it is usually taken out after a couple of days. She also has a drainage tube in the wound, to drain any extra fluid and make sure that the wound heals properly.

To be continued.....