Sigmoid colon resection: What to expect for recovery?

Posted by virgo1952 @virgo1952, Dec 1, 2019

It’s been 4+weeks since my resection. Found a cancerous polyp during a routine screening. Some frustration over the lack of information given by the surgeon as to what to expect afterwards. Late 60’s so I know the healing will take time. Mostly, struggling with bowel urgency/frequency and experiencing stomach pain from gas (pretty sure) is three months s realistic time frame for returning to “normal”? I’ve seen some posts that talk about two years? No further treatment so I was lucky. If anyone has had this surgery and went through or is going through the healing process, I would love to hear from you. Just kind of out there.

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Maybe because it was 21 years ago, I had 12' of my sigmoid colon removed but I don't remember having the soreness and what you are going through. I just remember wanting to get out of the hospital! I had never in my Life wanted a Bowel Movement then! Dr. said I couldn't leave until I did! Took me two days but finally did!
May have been because I was 21 years younger than I am now that I may have been stronger!!
My Thoughts and Prayers are with you and hope your soreness and pain soon goes away!
It's so much up to our own mind/brain to cure ourselves!
Blessing fro The Land of Enchantment!
Sundance(RB)

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@sundance6

Maybe because it was 21 years ago, I had 12' of my sigmoid colon removed but I don't remember having the soreness and what you are going through. I just remember wanting to get out of the hospital! I had never in my Life wanted a Bowel Movement then! Dr. said I couldn't leave until I did! Took me two days but finally did!
May have been because I was 21 years younger than I am now that I may have been stronger!!
My Thoughts and Prayers are with you and hope your soreness and pain soon goes away!
It's so much up to our own mind/brain to cure ourselves!
Blessing fro The Land of Enchantment!
Sundance(RB)

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wooo how lucky you were , i am i year and still sore , god bless

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@troyhenn22

wooo how lucky you were , i am i year and still sore , god bless

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Troy I guess I am! I feel so sorry for you still having pain! Sounds like we had different parts taken care of! Mine was a resection of 12' of my Sigmoid done!
Hang in there!
Sundance(RB)

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@kathyoung

Hello Virgo.
I understand your frustration with lack of follow up after a resection. I’m 13 weeks out. Hang in there it does get better.
I’m pain free now (don’t want to jinx it though:). However bowel movements are certainly not back to normal. Frequency is still a problem and feeling like there isn it a total elimination. I suffer from hemorrhoids as well which just adds to the problem.
I found that the 4th or 5th week I really turned a corner with regard to pain.

I’m looking forward to getting back to normal. I take FibreOne every night. I’ve been doing this since the surgery (mine was from diverticulitis) so not sure what it would be like without it, the doctor was pretty strict about that.

Not sure if any of this helps. Sometimes it’s just helpful to know someone is in the same boat. I’m going to add a probiotic to the mix and see if that helps.

I hope things continue to heal nicely for you!
A fellow Virgo

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HI, guys, I am 62 and had my Da Vinci sigmoidectomy Oct. 15th, the liquid, gas what ever was used to raise the skin so Doc could work leaked to my whole body and I woke up unable to see out of one eye, now , today I feel okay but I will have bouts of major diaherria or constipation, I had notes after the operation that said keep my foods boring for 2 weeks and then eat normal, maybe adding vegetables back in slowly. I was taking colace before because of an auto immune disease which occasionally requires strong medication and then miralax at night which is the smudgeiust yuck. The solace doesn't pull in the water and the miralax does. I can in desperation use Phillipsmom but it's only a quick fix , all of this seems like quick fixes. I have started taking my calcium , magnesium , cranberry, zink, d-3 , collagen after I eat something(I know , bad , I use to be athlete and would just pop my vitamins , I think I'm paying for those years) anyway with bad part gone , at least 14 inches of colon gone, I had one great poop and now this craziness, it makes me think it could have a lot to do with stress as well as the combination of and kinds of food(foods are very plain) although has anyone tasted the caramel m&m's, could've cared less about any kind of candy , even ice cream(because of methotrexate, made my teeth really sensitive but now learning I can have it again.) I'm a fairly plain eater although I'm now paying attention to how I eat as well as whatI eat, I've noticed if I'm really hungry , I'll gulp air with my food and I think that isn't good for digestion. I'm sorry this is so long it's just hard to deal with, go out with everyday:) Any words of wisdom, understanding would be really appreciated. Thanks guys!

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@bandaids

HI, guys, I am 62 and had my Da Vinci sigmoidectomy Oct. 15th, the liquid, gas what ever was used to raise the skin so Doc could work leaked to my whole body and I woke up unable to see out of one eye, now , today I feel okay but I will have bouts of major diaherria or constipation, I had notes after the operation that said keep my foods boring for 2 weeks and then eat normal, maybe adding vegetables back in slowly. I was taking colace before because of an auto immune disease which occasionally requires strong medication and then miralax at night which is the smudgeiust yuck. The solace doesn't pull in the water and the miralax does. I can in desperation use Phillipsmom but it's only a quick fix , all of this seems like quick fixes. I have started taking my calcium , magnesium , cranberry, zink, d-3 , collagen after I eat something(I know , bad , I use to be athlete and would just pop my vitamins , I think I'm paying for those years) anyway with bad part gone , at least 14 inches of colon gone, I had one great poop and now this craziness, it makes me think it could have a lot to do with stress as well as the combination of and kinds of food(foods are very plain) although has anyone tasted the caramel m&m's, could've cared less about any kind of candy , even ice cream(because of methotrexate, made my teeth really sensitive but now learning I can have it again.) I'm a fairly plain eater although I'm now paying attention to how I eat as well as whatI eat, I've noticed if I'm really hungry , I'll gulp air with my food and I think that isn't good for digestion. I'm sorry this is so long it's just hard to deal with, go out with everyday:) Any words of wisdom, understanding would be really appreciated. Thanks guys!

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Hi bandaids! I haven’t been around much this last year. but I remember you saying your surgery was coming up. Glad to see you made it through, even with a few bumps along the way. I had my one year out colonoscopy in October and it came back clean yay! I wish I had a magic answer for your questions, but it is a trial and error recovery. Now, I understand the term “new normal”. Doable, but different. I bet you will fast track this and be able to get on a program for yourself shortly. I recently had a “backup” issue and now I am drinking ducolax in the am and fiber in the afternoon. This is working for me. You have more restrictions (it sounds like that anyway) but I find keeping my eating, exercising and the above meds the same daily, helps my body digest and eliminate regularly. You don’t have to give up those caramel m&m’s, just throw some apple slices in there too!!!! I’m sure you will have many members sharing their tips and success stories. Take care. virgo

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Thank you so much for your kind words of wisdom, I have my phone telecommunication appt. today so just a few questions written down.
Thanks for wishing me well getting through it , man it is no piece of cake(which my husband called my first natural birth of one of my three sons:)

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@duckduck2020

So what are they doing for your cancer ? They said this is the only thing they can do for him to survive . They are talking about rerouting the colon into the bag. We do not understand. I know his cancer is the BRAF type

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@duckduck2020, how are you doing? What did you find out about your husband's treatment plan? Thinking about you.

@kkw2, do you have a colostomy?

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I had a sigmoid resection 11months ago, I take the same vitamins, it seems eating vegetables or a salad with every meal helps me.
In the morning I make a smoothie with avocado banana varies ...
I even added beans lentils etc in to my diet but bc they were hard to digest, I make a soup and then blend it. Initially I started with small portion till it felt OK to have more.
Also Using a good probiotic is very important!
Hope I helped
Good luck!

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@linakh

I had a sigmoid resection 11months ago, I take the same vitamins, it seems eating vegetables or a salad with every meal helps me.
In the morning I make a smoothie with avocado banana varies ...
I even added beans lentils etc in to my diet but bc they were hard to digest, I make a soup and then blend it. Initially I started with small portion till it felt OK to have more.
Also Using a good probiotic is very important!
Hope I helped
Good luck!

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Thanks for your information. How long after surgery did you have pain at the resection location? I had surgery on June 2nd and still have pain when I stand up from sitting... sometimes a sharp pain. Actually, it's only been about 6 weeks, so maybe I'm being too anxious about getting back to normal. Like you, smoothies and probiotics are helping. I also take a lot of vitamins. I do have difficulty regulating my bowel movements... not feeling like I really clean out my intestines. Any suggestions for that? Would appreciate any information... and thanks!

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@glasshalfull

I had a laparoscopic colon resection with removal of 12" of my sigmoid colon 4 weeks ago today for recurrent diverticulits, and I'm having lots of burning and stinging pain in the 6 areas where the colon was resected. The pain seems to be more severe when I'm constipated, so I've been trying a variety of measures to promote BMs, including Miralax, magnesium, colace, Linzess, and Metamucil. For some reason, the pain seems to be exacerbated when I take Metamucil, so I'm avoiding that now.

My bowels seem to be finding the new normal and I'm just glad everything seems to be working, albeit erratically at this point. Although my pain is less than it was several weeks ago, it hasn't really improved much since then. I'm taking Gabapentin, ibuprofen, and tylenol, none of which seems to help much. I was very active before the diverticulits started 3 months ago and had hoped to be back to my previous activity level, but the pain is preventing me from doing my usual exercise (biking, hiking, long walks, elliptical, etc.)

Does anyone have any idea how long can I expect this pain to continue?

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I’m 10 months out and I feel like I really turned the corner - ability to exercise and sleep without intense pain at 7 months. I still have bowel issues and pain if I eat the wrong thing or don’t drink enough water but it’s better than it was... hang in there - it does get better. I honestly sometimes don’t even know why it hurts but it does. My best advice is water water water and start working on getting full range of motion (stretching/walking). I also take gabapentin. I pour a pitcher of 2 liters of water everyday and I don’t go to sleep until it’s gone. I also take a chewable align probiotic. I noticed chewable was easier on my stomach for some reason. Hope you find what works for you.

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