Posted: Apr 29, 2017 7:17 pm
Weaver wrote:Rachel Bronwyn wrote:Doctors don't actually ask you to fart after an appendectomy, do they?
Yes. It is a good indicator that bowel function has returned after the trauma of the surgery and anesthesia. Asking whether a PT has been able to pass gas helps decisions on whether laxatives are needed, etc.
Though it's usually the nurses asking whether farting has occurred, rather than the docs.
With other procedures, like colonoscopies, patients are instructed to fart vigorously to help clear the CO2 used to inflate the bowel to allow clear vision of the intestinal walls.
The recovery room in a colonoscopy clinic sounds like a scene from Blazing Saddles:
