I was diagnosed with diverticulitis

Recently had laparoscopic sigmoid colectomy (7/6/22). 72 years old and in good shape, exercise daily, watch my diet and drink 70-80+ ozs. Water/daily. Learning that I needed surgery was quite a surprise following failed colonoscopy. (Narrowing /stricture in sigmoid colon. Had ct colonography & Barium study. Decided to proceed with elective colectomy, had no real symptoms. No pain but sometimes needed laxative to help with BM. Procedure was uneventful. (By the way also had gallbladder removed at the same time) No pain to speak of following surgery. Ibuprofen only no opioids. After surgery had a JP drain in abdomen and a catheter in bladder. This is not something that you should be overly concerned with. If they place catheter once you are out it’s nothing (normally that’s what they’ll do). Surgeon ordered pain block prior to surgery once I was out. Surgery duration was around 5 1/2- 6 hours. Only issue I have is BM’s about three X’s Daily everyday, mostly loose diarrhea . Not the end of the world but I understand as time goes by my colon will eventually get accustomed to the 20% reduction in bowel. Immediately following surgery (first 4-5 weeks) it was a bit challenging to get too far from the bathroom. Three months post-surgery, no pain & eating whatever I feel like eating. Even though the diverticulitis and the sigmoid colon has been removed I am making an accerted effort to stay clear of red meat and seeded foods. Eat high fiber diet and I have no complaints at this point!

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Hello @speedbird and welcome to Connect. I appreciate you sharing about your laparoscopic sigmoid colectomy. I especially am glad that you have learned how to adjust your eating habits to accommodate the change in your digestive tract. After surgery of this type, eating usually cannot go back to your previous eating plan. Adjustments need to be made and you did it! So, congratulations on that accomplishment.

I'm glad that you had minimal pain. It sounds as if your surgeon was very aware and made sure you had enough help with pain. You mentioned that you surgeon ordered a "pain block" prior to surgery. Was this an epidural? Was it removed when you were discharged from the hospital?

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Went back into my chart to research notes from the Anesthesiologist. It is called a Peripheral Nerve Block ordered by the surgeon prior to surgery to control post-op pain. I was under at the time and do not recall much about this, all I know is it worked really good!

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Recently had laparoscopic sigmoid colectomy (7/6/22). 72 years old and in good shape, exercise daily, watch my diet and drink 70-80+ ozs. Water/daily. Learning that I needed surgery was quite a surprise following failed colonoscopy. (Narrowing /stricture in sigmoid colon. Had ct colonography & Barium study. Decided to proceed with elective colectomy, had no real symptoms. No pain but sometimes needed laxative to help with BM. Procedure was uneventful. (By the way also had gallbladder removed at the same time) No pain to speak of following surgery. Ibuprofen only no opioids. After surgery had a JP drain in abdomen and a catheter in bladder. This is not something that you should be overly concerned with. If they place catheter once you are out it’s nothing (normally that’s what they’ll do). Surgeon ordered pain block prior to surgery once I was out. Surgery duration was around 5 1/2- 6 hours. Only issue I have is BM’s about three X’s Daily everyday, mostly loose diarrhea . Not the end of the world but I understand as time goes by my colon will eventually get accustomed to the 20% reduction in bowel. Immediately following surgery (first 4-5 weeks) it was a bit challenging to get too far from the bathroom. Three months post-surgery, no pain & eating whatever I feel like eating. Even though the diverticulitis and the sigmoid colon has been removed I am making an accerted effort to stay clear of red meat and seeded foods. Eat high fiber diet and I have no complaints at this point!

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Initially the surgeon mentioned his intentions were to remove around 20% of the colon . I think the large colon is about 5 Feet so 20% would be around 12 inches if my math is correct. The sigmoid colon is around 35cm-40cm which equates out to around 14-16 inches.
Never discussed with the surgeon how much he actually removed. Hopefully you’re doing well following your surgery!

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Recently had laparoscopic sigmoid colectomy (7/6/22). 72 years old and in good shape, exercise daily, watch my diet and drink 70-80+ ozs. Water/daily. Learning that I needed surgery was quite a surprise following failed colonoscopy. (Narrowing /stricture in sigmoid colon. Had ct colonography & Barium study. Decided to proceed with elective colectomy, had no real symptoms. No pain but sometimes needed laxative to help with BM. Procedure was uneventful. (By the way also had gallbladder removed at the same time) No pain to speak of following surgery. Ibuprofen only no opioids. After surgery had a JP drain in abdomen and a catheter in bladder. This is not something that you should be overly concerned with. If they place catheter once you are out it’s nothing (normally that’s what they’ll do). Surgeon ordered pain block prior to surgery once I was out. Surgery duration was around 5 1/2- 6 hours. Only issue I have is BM’s about three X’s Daily everyday, mostly loose diarrhea . Not the end of the world but I understand as time goes by my colon will eventually get accustomed to the 20% reduction in bowel. Immediately following surgery (first 4-5 weeks) it was a bit challenging to get too far from the bathroom. Three months post-surgery, no pain & eating whatever I feel like eating. Even though the diverticulitis and the sigmoid colon has been removed I am making an accerted effort to stay clear of red meat and seeded foods. Eat high fiber diet and I have no complaints at this point!

Jump to this post

Went back into my chart to research notes from the Anesthesiologist. It is called a Peripheral Nerve Block ordered by the surgeon prior to surgery to control post-op pain. I was under at the time and do not recall much about this, all I know is it worked really good!

Jump to this post

They told me I still had pockets in my colon and that I should be mindful of that. Drink lots of water, minimal consumption of seeds and nuts but do get adequate fiber in my diet and daily metamucil.

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