Smoldering diverticulitis -how to understand it-what and when to act

@bre19 I have diverticulitis . Despite surgery , I had 10” of colon removed . The rest of the colon can still suffer with “the divers”. That is what I call it . I keep mine in check with diet . I do not consume nuts or any type of seeds . These things get into the pockets of “ divers” and cause infection . That causes stomach pain and sometimes fever. If I happen to feel a sore tummy, I start drinking large amounts of water . It helps me. Even corn chips can bother me . They are made with hard ground corn . It can cause problems as some of it does not soften . I don’t eat corn at all anymore . Blessed Be all of you . We do all have our demons . I try to be positive …. Crystalena

I am not sure what is going on in my belly. Since November last year (2025) my bowel movements have changed from being always constipated to a sudden variety of soft pieces to sometimes diarrhea, to sometimes more ‘normal. Over Christmas I started to get a constant dull pain in my left side lower abdominal area. It is still there today. About a week ago I had to undergo a planned hiatal hernia surgery so I have been on a liquid diet. I was hoping that with this diet it would all calm down but it didn’t.
I still have the dull pain, definitely not severe enough to go to the ER. I go for bloodwork and a x-ray end of this week. There was bloodwork done a day after the surgery so I wasn’t surprised to see higher numbers in de blood cell count since I assume that my body is working hard to start the healing process.
It might be good to mention that I don’t have a family doctor and I have to advocate for myself through virtual care. Waitlists for CT scans or colonoscopy are close to a year if not longer where I live so it doesn’t look like I get a diagnosis or pain relief anytime soon?
Any advice?

It sounds like you are experiencing more and more discomfort with your bowel movements, @momof2gems. I am not sure what high numbers in your bloodwork are high. If you mean to say red blood count, here is what Mayo Clinic says about elevated numbers: https://www.mayoclinic.org/symptoms/high-red-blood-cell-count/basics/causes/sym-20050858

You may also find it helpful as you recover from hiatal hernia surgery to review a discussion @hopeful33250 created where members are sharing about eating after digestive surgeries: https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/how-do-i-eat-after-digestive-tract-surgery/

Do you have diverticulitis? What prompted getting more bloodwork and a x-ray, is it the elevated red blood count they found? Please come back and comment about what you find out.

@momof2gems I would have suggested a CT scan, but looks like no go for you. You need a regular doc otherwise you are a new patient every time and no one really knows you and your history. No doubt you know this already. I see this as two problems intertwined. 1. You have something going on with your bowels or something in your gut. 2. Your ability to access the medical care you need on a timely basis is inadequate. Personally I suspect you need to fix problem #2 before you will be able to fix problem #1. If you wait til you need an ER you are in a much worse situation. Sorry if that sounds simplistic. Good luck and I hope you get the diagnosis and treatment you need.

@jlharsh thank you for your reply. My white blood cells, neutrophils and monocytes were up. I had no idea what it meant so I used Chat GP for an explanation. It mentioned that these numbers are higher than usual due to surgical trauma/tissue healing after a surgery. That makes sense. So I am not worried about that.
I think the nurse practitioner I saw suspect something like diverticulitis?
Thank you for the suggestion for the hiatal hernia support group. So far I am in my second week of liquid food and after Thursday I am on four weeks of puréed food. So far I haven’t experienced any problems thankfully. But if the need arises I will visit that group.

@donbarkman thank you for your reply.
Unfortunately it is not my choice to not have a family doctor. There just aren’t enough.
Thankfully the doctors and nurse practitioners that I can reach out to online are always able to look up my health records through a secured central healthcare website.
I have had to learn to advocate for my health which is tiring and at times frustrating but I have no other choice.
I hope I get the diagnose and treatment I need too.

@momof2gems I hope you are successful. I’ve spent the better part of 50 years helping family navigate the U.S. healthcare system from docs to hospitals to pain management. You are forced into being your own advocate and it sucks and wears you down. I have a friend right now fighting with her insurance over a pain injection procedure that they approved for years and now suddenly don’t want to. It’s maddening. Hang in there.