Did you request to see your colon?

[SupportiveMom]

I either have a very curious kid or very bizarre one, but she has asked to see her colon after it is removed. We see the surgeon again Thursday & plans on asking.

Is this even possible? Did anyone else ask to see it? Would I be better just asking them to take a picture for her?

I asked what the interest was, and she said she just wanted to see what was giving her all the trouble...

 

[DJW]

I wish I had thought of that.
I have told the surgeons on more than one occasion I wanted to watch.

 

[Caitlin84]

I don't know if that's possible or not, but it can't hurt to ask. I can understand her reasoning. At the very least I bet they will take pictures.

 

[hawkeye]

I think they can take a picture. When I signed the consent form for surgery, I did consent to have photos taken.

When I had mo resection they did pathology on the portion that was removed. Not sure when they did this, if it's a few days after surgery and she's feeling well she could take a stroll down to the pathology lab.

 

[Lady Organic]

I'd definately want to see and I wouldnt be shy asking. I like to understand everything.

 

[glory_h]

I asked if I could keep my removed intestine, but I was turned down. I guess it was considered biohazardous? Wish I'd have thought to ask to at least see it. I think it's pretty normal, after all, it's a piece of you that you'll no longer have. Kind of like losing a tooth, you'll most likely look at the tooth to check it out, just to satisfy curiosity.

 

[UnXmas]

I've never thought of asking, though I would have been interested to see it! My surgeons have told me various things about how my insides look. My colon was atonic and discoloured from poor blood supply, my small intestine (which I still have most of, obviously) has very thin walls, and I'm missing some connective tissues which I can't remember the name of right now. I would have liked to have seen all that. I think it's a natural curiosity to have. I find watching my stoma very interesting, especially now that it's prolapsed and it looks like I have half my intestine hanging out of my stomach. I can make it move a bit, it moves on it's own a lot, it's size and colour change throughout the day depending on how active it is. How is that not interesting?!

 

[24601]

I think it's natural to be curious too - although I've never wanted to see the bits of bowel I've had resected myself. But I've heard of more people than I would have imagined asking their surgeon for a video of the surgery or photos and the surgeon happily obliging. I think all the suggestions above are great and I say go for it and ask. I think the surgeons will understand the curiosity after all it's what they are interested in themselves and they may see a potential doctor in the making in her too!

 

[SupportiveMom]

Well we were told today he will take a picture, but we can't see it. I guess better than nothing!

 

[Layla]

I also asked to have my one returned to me and filled out all the paperwork but I never got it in the end No idea what I would have done with it so probably better not to have it but I did get a picture though, it looks nothing like I expected!

I make sausages with pig intestine so I was expecting something like that but this was quite yuck, with fatty bits attached to it. You can see the strictures though, and the surgeon said one bit in particular would have been likely to rupture with the next obstruction so good to know it wasn't for nothing!