Having a Colectomy

Nurses General Nursing

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I am a brand new member of this site and I was hoping to get some perspective on what I'll be going through in the coming months. After a long bout of tests, through both my PCP and Gastroenterologist, my doctors are recommending a colectomy (subpartial?) for a problem I have with colonic inertia which is further complicated, because my colon is very long and has 2 complete loops.

I've been surfing the net trying to find a trusted source telling me what to expect in the prep and recover of this procedure and thought this would be a good way to get some experienced info.

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I am not sure if people can give you any sort of medical advice here. Have you tried googling for some sort of support forums? I know there are ones for sleep apnea, diabetes, and infertility.

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I wasn't looking for advice as much as what are nurses experience with patients who have had this procedure.

Thanks for anythin you can add.

Signed,

Nervous

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Specializes in Medical-Oncology.

Just a quick bit about prep and recovery. Most patients getting a colectomy will be "NPO" (nothing by mouth) for at least 8-12 hrs prior to surgery. If your bowels can empty sufficiently, you may get the Go-lytely bowel prep that people usually get before a colonscopy. Otherwise, they may do a tapwater enema to clean you out from the back.

After surgery, you will have plenty of pain. You may be in the hospital for anywhere from 1-2 days to a week or more. It will depend on how well you do and what your pain levels are. At the beginning of recovery, you may be restricted to eating ice chips, then advance to a clear liquid diet. You might be on that clear liquid diet for several days. That gentle diet will allow internal incisions to heal. Your doc will be looking out for your first bowel movement after surgery. He wants to make sure your bowels are working before he advances you to a full liquids, or soft diet. In the meantime, if you are having a lot of pain, you may have a PCA pump in which you press a button to deliver pain medication as needed. I hope this helps. Just be sure you have plenty to read and keep from being bored while you are healing. Good luck to you!

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here are a couple of links.

one of the links is about faster healing when chewing gum post-op.:)

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/colectomy/MY00141/DSECTION=what-you-can-expect

http://www.medinewsdirect.com/?p=565

wishing you the very best.

leslie

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Specializes in med/surg, telemetry, IV therapy, mgmt.

i had a right hemicolectomy for colon cancer 2 years ago which shortened my colon to about 2/3 of its length. i was told to expect to have loose stools for awhile until things got settled down which i did. perhaps it was just me, but i had very little pain from the surgery. no n/g tube either. i was on a morphine pca for pain and seldom used it. i was up and about and out of the hospital on the 4th day. i don't remember even getting the prescription for the oral pain medication filled or needing anything orally for pain when i got home. i was eating solid foods on my 3rd day after surgery and tolerating them well. i do not have a problem with diarrhea or loose stools unless i do not eat enough bulk such as fiber or vegetables. i took cholestyramine which is a powder i mixed in juice and drank 1 to 3 times a day to bulk up stools for about 3 months after the surgery, but the loose stools were partially due to being on chemotherapy for the cancer. things are pretty normal now except that if i do not get enough bulk i will get really loose stools.

the surgery, or a similar procedure, a bowel resection, is described on the encyclopedia of surgery: http://www.surgeryencyclopedia.com/a-ce/bowel-resection.html

whatever you decide, good luck. i just had surgery again last week and they opened my abdominal cavity again to remove metastatic tumor. they didn't mess with my colon at all and i went home on the 4th day. surprisingly, i had very little pain again and have had to take very little to no pain medication. i think that it is because there is very poor pain reception despite what we think in the abdominal cavity itself. i was out driving and the seat belt doesn't even bother the incision. i went to a movie, ate half a small bag of popcorn and drank half a bottle of diet pepsi--no problem.

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Specializes in Acute Care Cardiac, Education, Prof Practice.

Just remember even if you don't feel like it, a moderate amount of walking (but not too much!) after surgery gets those bowels awake and ready for action! Also monitor your incision at home for any swelling, redness, heat, oozing or generalized fever, malaise or "I just don't feel right" which could be signs iof infection.

Best of luck!!

Tait

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1. Move

2. Move

3. Move

Then you feel better.

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Thanks BBQvegan,

The prep won't be easy (I know, none of them are). Over the last 6 months I've had 2 colonoscopies, 1 Barium Enema, 1 Cat Scan, a virtual colonoscopy and multiple xrays,. The preps did not do the job to completely clean me out. We've tried the following and combinations thereof; Golytely, Halflytely, Miralax, Magnesium Citrate, Bisacodyl tabs, Milk of Magnesia and various enemas. The problem is probably due to the looping and suspected problem with "inertia?" I don't know what else can be done.

Thanks for the info. I go for a consult on 9/1 and should know more at that point. Wish me luck.

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Thanks for the info, and good luck on progress. Sounds like you've been through it.

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Did you get my PM?

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Did you get my PM?

It tells me I don't have permission to PM yet. Maybe I need to meet some requirement, like a certain number of posts or something.

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