Blood clots and pouch leaks - oh my!

I feel very blessed to have a surgeon who takes multiple precautions to prevent blood clots and pouch leaks.

For blood clots: 1) special "booties", hooked to an air pump are put on before you go to surgery 2) heparin shots in the stomach (I only had 1 that hurt) 3) you must get up and walk about 4 hours after surgery. Then you have to walk at least 3 times a day.

For pouch leaks: 1) he adds an extra reinforcement at the surgery site 2) nothing to drink for 24 hours after surgery until an upper GI (this is your first taste of anything liquid) verifies there are no leaks 3) as soon as the doctor gets the results of the test (which was about 2:00pm) he will instruct the nursing staff that you can have 1 oz of ice with blue food coloring every hour. That may sound like a little bit but you won't feel much like having any more. 4)After you go home you still need to eat/drink something with a blue or green color. If you are having any leaks it will show the blue or green in the drainage form your drain.