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Problems months after colon resection surgery: What Helps?
Colorectal Cancer | Last Active: Jun 4 9:58am | Replies (521)Comment receiving replies
One of the best things you can do is get your body in the healthiest condition you can prior to surgery. Eat a protein rich diet and try and cut out processed and inflammatory foods. Make sure you are exercising and try to reduce stress (although it sounds like your life is very full). You didn’t say if your surgery will be done as an open repair or laparoscopic. But I’m thinking since you said four weeks that must be laparoscopic. I am three years out from my first colon resection surgery (I’ve had four all in a six month period in 2019) and I’m so fortunate that I don’t have LARS or the challenges others face. I also have ulcerative colitis so my healing was different. The one thing that I heard from every doctor who treated me was that my physical fitness helped me recover and helped me pull through when I was in ICU. My last colon surgery was because of a bowel perforation and I became septic and had to be intubated and on a vent. I was hospitalized for five weeks with that surgery and being physically fit helped me leave the hospital and come home. Load up in protein and maybe do something to decrease any stress. It sounds like you’ve had a rough time with endometriosis and I think this surgery being done as a planned thing versus emergency is a huge benefit.
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Lisag03
Why have you had so many colon resection surgeries? I am four weeks out from my sigmoid colon ectomy and it doesn’t make me feel very hopeful hearing other people have had more than one surgery for this specially in a short amount of time. I had to have my sigmoid colon removed due to 3 1/2 months of non-stop diverticulitis flare ups, antibiotics and ER visits.
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Thank you so much for the advice @lisag03! Because my diverticulitis is uncomplicated, even though I've had it five times so far, I'm seriously considering only having the endometriosis excision and ovary removed if they could save the bowel once the ovary and endo is cut loose. I feel like the extra issues and unbearable pain beyond the diverticulitis have been caused by the endo and repeated cysts on the adhered ovary. My pain has been excruciating, like a hot poking knife coming up from the rectum into the bowel that can be relentless for days at a time. So many ER visits and CT scans show only one in five of these episodes on average is actually Diverticulitis. It's taken ten years and lots of gaslighting from the medical community to figure this out because endo does not show up on imaging studies, I had to find on my own and travel to a world renown endo specialist in Atlanta. I've read so much about managing diverticulitis with diet, probiotics, exercise, and meditation. Antibiotics still work for me to clear it up for now, and after reading all the after-sigmoidectomy recovery stories, I'm not sure I should not fight for a little longer. I have developed allergies to all quinolone, penicillin, and cephalosporin antibiotics, so my arsenal is getting smaller to treat it. But, with the EDS, the MCAS, the lupus, and now the Narcotic bowel syndrome, I already know the recovery from the resection would be very difficult at best. I will work to get as healthy as possible beforehand so that if it is necessary once they get in there, I will be ready. I will keep everyone updated if I do decide to move forward, or if it is decided for me once they get in there. Thank you so much again for sharing your stories, I have read every one of the posts from the beginning and taken all of your experiences and wisdom to heart.