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Right sided abdominal pain 2 months post resection
Hi everyone.
On Jan 4 2024, I had my left sided colostomy bag removed and my colon resected. I’m approximately 2 months out and things were going well the last two months, but the last week, I’ve noticed a discomfort/pain on the top/right side of my stomach. There are very loud gurgles of water being passed and some brief distention. I say brief because once my colon or stomach (not sure which) is filling up with air or water, it gets tight and painful, but I can now place my hand on top of it and push down gently to release the pressure and that’s it. Disappears completely. It’s very debilitating as it’s happening and has stopped me in my tracks completely. I hate it cause I want to go outside and enjoy this spring turning weather but have no energy to even get to the backyard.
My bowel movements have been fairly regular although diarrhea with tiny bits of solid poo is in full effect.
I took a Gas-X and Tums to relive the pressure but it didn’t really do anything but just make me burp like crazy and gave me acid reflux.
I try to eat but have no appetite for food and when I am eating, it’s no more than a banana, a handful of crackers and water. Tonight I will try some rice and see if it helps.
I think that’s everything that would be needed to diagnose so my question is, is this normal thing for only being 2 months out?
Part of me feels like I’m rushing this process because I did very well coming out of the hospital and that I need to be more patient cause let’s face it, it’s only been two months, but is this level of pain normal? Is there any relief for this?
And will it normalize over time? Any time frames?
Just want to get my quality of life back.
Be happy to give more context if needed.
Has anyone experienced anything similar?
Thanks
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Got tested the other day.
Negative for C.diff and other other bacterial possibilities.
Doctors attributing this to “healing pain” and will take a while to heal.
No further imaging required for now.
Yes, two months is still early in the healing process. I had a complicated infection caused by a perforated colon a little over a year ago. I've documented details on this site. What relates to your question is the timeline for my recovery. My resection was done mid December. My goal was to play golf by May. Two months after resection I had NO stamina and still had bothersome, irregular, often loose stools. My surgeon's recommendation to take Metamucil 2 capsules x twice a day almost instantly made me regular. I'm still on that regimen! I began an exercise routine beginning with walking and began gym classes for balance, then strength. I started water focused exercises early on and eventually got to swimming laps very slowly. It all worked! I went from a wasting, weak 70 year old to playing golf three times a week. A year later, I'm very happy with my recovery. Surprisingly, I can eat more foods than before resection.
P.S. DON'T LIFT HEAVY OBJECTS FOR 6 MONTHS! Why? I just had post operative hernia surgery done to correct a hernia at the incision site. I was lifting stones for my rock garden, carrying a heavy golf bag. I thought four months was long enough to heal that abdominal incision.(done laparoscopically). It takes a long time for those deep surgical wounds to heal full strength! I felt great, so I assumed all was done healing. Not so! It's worth the time to take it slow and steady.
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