Sigmoid colon resection: What to expect for recovery?

Hello @jimdiehl,

I'm glad to hear that you are making progress. I understand how difficult it can be. Do you also monitor eating? Are there certain foods or drinks that you avoid?

You mentioned an app through John Hopkins Physical Therapy. Is the app available to everyone?

I'm glad to hear that you have done so well, @apinzonc0627. You are right when you said that all patients are different.

How frequently do you have follow-up appointments and/or scans?

I do monitor eating and residue of foods I eat. As a flight attendant, I try to minimize bathroom events on my three day trips. This usually involves eating low residue foods (rice, pasta, cream of wheat) the day before a trip, then fasting 18-24 hours (liquids only) starting about 9 pm the day before a trip. This helps provide predictability.

The Johns Hopkins iPhone app was provided after a physical therapy consultation to help me manage bowel and urinary habits. I have combined this app daily with other daily exercises (e.g. glutius strengthening and leg stretching) while sitting or lying on the floor to help reduce or eliminate lower back pain. My ultimate goal from daily floor sitting is to be able to get up without using my hands - I admit I am a long way from reaching that goal

Tenia cita de control cada 4 meses recien operado,ahora cada 6 meses ,ya me hicieron un PET y todo salio bien no tengo cancer me dice mi Oncologo pero hay que seguir con los controles.

Glad for your success. Your last line says it very well…it requires patience !! I had similar surgery and took it very gently with diet, sometimes used colace for gentle help….introduced new foods very carefully….eventually am eating most healthy, fresh, unprocessed foods…eat 1 dried apricot every afternoon and go normally the next morning, no need for laxatives…we learn to listen to our own bodies ever better to survive as well as possible.best of health to all !

Hello @mycmusic and welcome to Mayo Connect. Your comments about taking it very gently with diet was important. Perhaps you could post about this in a new discussion group about eating after digestive tract surgery. Here is the link to that discussion. https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/how-do-i-eat-after-digestive-tract-surgery/

I noticed that you said that you introduced new foods "carefully." Was your surgery recent? Are you able to eat more foods as time goes on or are you still limited?

My surgery was end of November…at first, liquid diet, then soft foods for awhile, then expand on soft foods, then gentle solids, then fiber slowly introduced,by cooking it at first….around March, I was eating a healthy diet, only avoiding spicy things, sodas, etc. Heavily processed and fried foods avoided !..try things at first in small amounts, listen to your body….my challenge was to gain some weight, while watching fats and sugars, while adding exercises…takes time and patience for sure, especially as we age. It became ‘’my new job’’…

PS—one the very first fiber foods I introduced were apples: applesauce first, then cooked apple slices, then raw without skin, and finally apples ! They are a really good food and help keep things moving…but this also requires well more than the usual water and gentle exercise not long after meals. Good luck.

I had a colonectomy a year ago at age 84. I had years of GI issues (bloating, diarhea, constipation) My doctor ordered a colonoscopy and they found a golf ball sized tumor in the cecum. The surgeon removed the cecum and also found that my small intestines were being strangulated by surgical mesh placed years ago after a hernia surgery. That required 8" of the small instestine to be removed. I also have ideopathic peripheral neuropathy for some years without significant pain, I am not diabetic. I struggle with constipation and loose bowels. I live on Immodeum daily. I know where every bathroom is wherever I go. The surgeon had to leave some of the mesh because the surgery was over 5 hours on the anesthesiologists recommendation, I wonder if the remaining mesh is an issue or possibly because I no longer have a cecum? I take no meds except Vitamin B 12 injections monthly for the PN.

My husband was diagnosed with colon cancer in October of 2024. He had surgery in December and has now, in July 2025, just finished his chemo. Fingers crossed, that will be the end of it. 🤞It has been an awful road to go though! It does test your limits by forcing you to go through (what to me feels like a roller coaster of emotions).