1. < Digestive Health

Seeking support for recovery from diverticulitis surgery

Posted by suziq52 @suziq52, Nov 8, 2022

I hope I am posting in the right section! I am almost four weeks in recovery from surgery to resection my colon because I have had so many diverticulitis flare ups. My last flare up started in June, 2022 and lasted until my surgery on Oct. 14. I had no choice but to have the surgery because I developed a stricture in my sigmoid colon. The surgery was supposed to be laparoscopic but ended up being open. It was seven hours. I was in the hospital for 11 days. Now home, I am still in some pain although the surgical site is healing well. My bowel function is a mess. Lots of gas too. I am getting no guidance on how to proceed or what to expect. I wonder how others have survived this. I am looking at a longer recovery because of the open surgery. I would love to avoid more problems in the future, and regain my health. I just turned 70. I don’t know anyone who has undergone this surgery and would like to talk to others who have!

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salliesallie | @salliesallie | Apr 6 9:54am

Thank you for sharing. I have been using Miralax and Konsyl and I am not pleased with either one. I will give
Benefiber a try. All the best to you.

REPLY
caryn13 | @caryn13 | Apr 8 7:02am
In reply to @lucy155 "That's the problem. I can't tell you. Had my colon resection in December. I thought I..." + (show)
@lucy155

That's the problem. I can't tell you. Had my colon resection in December. I thought I waited long enough walking, easy stuff....then, I think March-April made up my mind I would recover my energy and strength. I started swinging golf club, doing senior boot camp, swimming, gardening. I had a great, very active summer, golfing three times a week. Then in August, I noticed my waist being bigger than usual with no weight gain. No pain, just a slow, growing waistline with a slight bigger protrusion near the belly button. Saw my surgeon. He confirmed a hernia in September. He said it would not get smaller, only bigger. The danger was a bowel blockage if the hernia got too big. By Jan 8 when I had my elective surgery, my waist was a 42! I weigh 145 and am 5'8". Not skinny, but certainly not a 42" waist! I'm a 71 year old who is vain! 😂. I'm not sure if I'll plan a forced slower pace this Spring-summer. I know I don't want anymore surgeries to recover from!

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Lucy,
I'm happy I saw your post. I had a resection 18 month's ago and went back to the gym when my surgeon gave me his approval. My post-op CT noted a small Ventral Hernia, which, surprisingly to me, doesn't concern my surgeon and Gastro. I had robotic surgery with seven incisions including one in my belly button. My lower stomach protrudes a bit since my surgery. How was your recovery from the Hernia surgery? I'm afraid that might be in my future.

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Moderator
Lisa Lucier, Moderator | @lisalucier | Apr 8 10:46am
In reply to @lauriecurly "Hi, I haven't gone thru the surgery but am about to. I'm scheduled for April 9..." + (show)
@lauriecurly

Hi, I haven't gone thru the surgery but am about to. I'm scheduled for April 9 and I'm scared

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Hi, @lauriecurly - you'd mentioned that your surgery is coming up tomorrow and that you'd been feeling scared. Wondering how you are doing now that your surgery is almost here?

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Moderator
Lisa Lucier, Moderator | @lisalucier | Apr 11 8:30am
In reply to @lauriecurly "Nobody's mentioned diff to me, Sorry that got left out of my comment" + (show)
@lauriecurly

Nobody's mentioned diff to me, Sorry that got left out of my comment

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Hi, @lauriecurly - thinking of you now that you've had your surgery. How are you doing?

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anna999 | @anna999 | May 13 7:33am

I have suffered from diverticular disease and a torturous sigmoid colon for years. I finally had the laparoscopic sigmoid resection surgery 3 weeks ago. It’s hard to say if it has helped yet as I am in recovery. I am starting to feel better, however I still have pain on my left side. It’s discouraging because I keep reading that people are recovered and back to work after two weeks!! I feel like nothing is supported on my left side and like I just want to hold my abdomen when I walk around. Fatigue is gradually improving, but feel I am a long time away from being my strong self again. Sneezing is unbearable for pain!

REPLY
2 replies
linda82 | @linda82 | May 14 7:16am
In reply to @anna999 "I have suffered from diverticular disease and a torturous sigmoid colon for years. I finally had..." + (show)
@anna999

I have suffered from diverticular disease and a torturous sigmoid colon for years. I finally had the laparoscopic sigmoid resection surgery 3 weeks ago. It’s hard to say if it has helped yet as I am in recovery. I am starting to feel better, however I still have pain on my left side. It’s discouraging because I keep reading that people are recovered and back to work after two weeks!! I feel like nothing is supported on my left side and like I just want to hold my abdomen when I walk around. Fatigue is gradually improving, but feel I am a long time away from being my strong self again. Sneezing is unbearable for pain!

Jump to this post

Please give it time. Is the pain more discomfort than pain from procedure? 3 weeks is not that long for "healing". I had "pain/discomfort for a while too after surgery and had a pillow I would hold. I started holding my tummy a lot too. I started wearing a posture back support to help me stop slouching. I was so excited when I could actually sleep on my sides without discomfort.
Fatigue will last awhile. Your Dr. will watch you blood work. You should make sure and get your nutrition and lots of fluids. You also must walk as much as you can.
You will notice a lot of time healing and changing. I took at least 3 - 4 mths.

REPLY
foxj | @foxj | May 14 10:14am
In reply to @anna999 "I have suffered from diverticular disease and a torturous sigmoid colon for years. I finally had..." + (show)
@anna999

I have suffered from diverticular disease and a torturous sigmoid colon for years. I finally had the laparoscopic sigmoid resection surgery 3 weeks ago. It’s hard to say if it has helped yet as I am in recovery. I am starting to feel better, however I still have pain on my left side. It’s discouraging because I keep reading that people are recovered and back to work after two weeks!! I feel like nothing is supported on my left side and like I just want to hold my abdomen when I walk around. Fatigue is gradually improving, but feel I am a long time away from being my strong self again. Sneezing is unbearable for pain!

Jump to this post

I had the same surgery 4 months ago and also had pain on my left side for awhile after the surgery, but it finally stopped except for the occasional discomfort on the left side where the incision is. I definitely wasn’t feeling real great at 3 weeks. I did let my surgeon know and she was confident that it was the incision still healing.

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