Hi gang. Well, I made it through the resection last week. Was supposed to go in Wed @ 1 PM but, got a message to call the hospital immediately @ 7 AM and was asked to get there ASAP due to a cancelation. Got there at 8:10 and by 9 AM I got wheeled into the OR. The surgeon told my wife he took out a bit over a foot of the colon.

Sure was more painful than I anticipated and resting in a hospital is highly overrated. The hospital staff was excellant to me though.

I got home Sun and this is the first time I've been able to sit down in front of a 'puter.

I'm trying to control the pain during the day with OTC Tylinol and use the script stuff for night time. I go out for a short walk every hour (very short right now) as I got sick of walking in circles inside the house.

I finally had a "normal" bowel movement this AM. Up till now I've only had little mostly mucusy blood types. (I think some spelling is off here :( )

Well, time to stop sitting here.

Sounds like you are well on your way to recovery! Taking it slow, as you should. I wouldn't worry too much about the bm's at this point, as long as you are having some and it isn't too painful. The short walks are good, and it's OK if you aren't up to much of anything else right now. You will get bored, and it can be tempting to do too much at times. Your body will tell you when you've done too much.

Hey Don.....

Been waiting to hear from you...and glad you're on the other side! The worst is over...now onto recovery.

Your bm's will be funky for quite a while. I'm sure you're still on a soft diet. I lived on puddings, creamed soups, etc. for a while and couldn't wait to have some pizza!

They took over a foot of my colon, too....and, yes, forget getting any rest in a hospital. My room was right next to the nurse's station so forget it. Noise 24/7. I had excellent staff care, too, which makes all the difference.

Hang in there and keep us posted as it goes. You'll be feeling great in no time.

Best,
Linda

My husband (age 40) is still in the hospital with his bowel resection, which was done on Monday. He has had numerous diverticulitis attacks requiring hospitalization over the past 3 years. He had the procedure done laparoscopically, and he had 2 feet of his colon removed during a lengthy procedure. The surgeon said it was very, very nasty, and he couldn't save a centimeter of the sigmoid colon, so now his transverse colon is hooked up to his rectum. He may be discharged as early as Thurs., which I'm worried about, since he finds it painful to breathe , hasn't had a BM yet, and has had a fever on and off. Any suggestions or advice for the recovery period? Thanks!

Hi......

First of all, I think it's normal to run a low grade fever after surgery. What concerns me more is the pain when breathing. Have they done a chest x-ray? Is your husband up and moving around? As hard as it is, moving as much as possible is crucial.

As for recovery, don't worry about the bm's for now. Your husband's intestines will wake up and start doing their job....it just takes time. Besides, I'm sure he hasn't had any "real" food...other than a soft diet. While lap re-sections seem to be somewhat easier recovery-wise, the same amount of healing is going on inside and things get better on a day-to-day basis.

Good luck to your husband and keep us posted,
Linda

Yes, see if he can get up and walk the halls. The walking helps to get the gas out. Heck, I was walking the halls (with my tower) after the first day at 2 AM as I could not sleep anyway. I did not have any fever after the surgery (that I recall) though. I had to achieve three things to get discharged from the hospital.
1st, bowel sounds,
2nd, urinate
3rd, pass gas.

Now, back to my recliner.

Welcome to the other side, Don! Keep getting up from that recliner and moving around, it does a world of good. I am almost 5 weeks post-op and feeling great; I firmly believe all those short trips around the house helped tremendously. Don't get discouraged over lack of what you consider "normal" bm's. At this point I'm just beginning to see something that slightly resembles what I was used to. My surgeon gave me lots of info on what to expect and even anticipated many of my questions (guess he's done this a time or two!). The tiredness has eased up and I feel like I am finally able to do more than take a short walk and rest again. In fact, I'll be going back to work June 30th, just a few days over the 6 week mark. I'm a medical receptionist and am fortunate enough to have coworkers who care very much about me and will make the transition back to working as easy as possible on me.

Best of luck to you with your recovery.;)

Progress report here:

Doing better every day. I rarely need any pain meds during the day now and only take a script pain killer just before bed now. BM's are still small and the most pain I do have is right after a BM, but find that it goes away after laying down for a few minutes. The BM's do look normal, but small. I'm doing 3 short walks outside every day (just got caught in a thunderstorm downpour two houses away and unable to run so walked it out :eek: ). I can sit for a few minutes now and I see the doc in two days.

That's great news! It just gets better and better and before you know it you won't be using pain meds at all.

I'm seeing my surgeon today and assuming he will sign my release so I can go in to work next Monday. I can't wait to go!

Had a bit of a relapse last night. I had 3 small bm's right in a row followed by a lot of internal sharp pain. I had to take 2 of the script pain killers. Today I feel okay and have had 1 small bm without much pain. Gonna take it real easy today.

Hey Don....

Yes...take it slow and easy. I remember having strange twinges and aches internally for quite a while after my surgery. When you think about what was done in there, it's amazing we even have bm's. Better to have small, loose ones than be constipated. I was for quite a while in spite of the stool softeners and extra fiber.

Hang in there,
Linda

Well, saw my surgeon this afternoon and he said all is normal for this stage. He did tell me to change to Advil for 3 doses per day and that should help more.

Another update: Friday night (6/27) I was getting rather severe cramps reminisent of my gall bladder attacks (gall bladder removed 12/06) and I was afraid I'd have to go to the ER. I called the surgeon and he suggested I wait and go back to a liquid diet for the time being. Things have settle down since then.