From 1/24/2018 to 3/1/2019, I had 5 abdominal surgeries due to diverticulitis. After the 1st surgery, major bowel blockage due to adhesions. At that point, I had a temporary colostomy for 6 months. During the reversal surgery, another blockage due to adhesions. I swelled up so bad, I could feel my intestines bubbling in the small of my back. They opened me up again to try and get to the blockage but the surgeon said there were so many adhesions, it looked like glue had been poured over my intestines. I went home after 17 days in the hospital with a PICC line and on TPN because I could not eat anything. I did massage on my abdomen and it seemed to help. After about 3 weeks, everything cleared. At this point I was finally able to get an appointment at Mayo here in Phoenix. They kept me on low residue diet.In Nov 2018, the diverticulitis came back and I had to go to ER. They sent me home on antibiotics, but 2 weeks later same issues and they admitted me. Got to go home for Christmas on clear liquids only, 4th surgery 1/7/2019. Blockage was so bad they couldn’t even get the contrast to go through during the radiology test.
They tried to do laparoscopy, but adhesions were so bad they had to open me up again. They laised the adhesions for over 2 hours, nicked the small bowel, had to repair that and ended up doing Deloyers’s procedure on large intestine. So thankful I was at Mayo with a Colorectal surgeon. If I had been at the old hospital with a general surgeon, I probably would have ended up with a permanent colostomy.
5th surgery was to fix area where the colostomy had been because the 4th surgery caused the area to pull and buckle and become uncomfortable.
I still do massage on my abdomen every day and have not had any further blockage issues. Staying on low residue diet as well, since all the surgeries have now caused gastroparesis. I don’t eat anything that is hard to digest, and eat small amounts of food at a time. If I eat too much, I get really sick to my stomach and vomit.
I started doing the massage because I was doing research and was looking at the Clear Passages webpage.