Post op swelling

[LauraJ]

Has anyone had internal swelling following resection. My husband had a resection, and 10 days post one was re admitted with a bowel obstruction.
They originally assumed his resection may have leaked and he had an infection. After 3 antibiotics they have finally decided it is just selling. They are going to keep him on bowel rest until it resolves itself, or until it is safe to operate and redo his surgery.
Has anyone experience this? I was told the first 10-21 days the swelling is the worst, then by 30 days post op it's usually greatly reduced, so hopefully this weekend it will go down

 

[jlm]

Hi LauraJ, I believe swelling is probably common. On March 16th I had a gastrojejunostomy. They pretty much took my small bowel and attached it to a new opening they had made in my stomach. It took close to 20 days for things to start moving and they believed this was from swelling as well. Here's hoping things start moving. I really feel for him. Does he have an NG tube in? Those are just god awful

 

[LauraJ]

Yep since day 1, thankfully he is used to them! He is getting TPN by picc line too

 

[jlm]

I had an NG tube for 7 days. On day 7 we pulled it. I couldnt handle it anymore. Bad idea. For 10 days after I threw up twice a day even though i wasn't eating or drinking anything. My first few resection no NG tube and everything started working after a few days. Tpn is great. I've been doing nightly tpn for the last two years.

 

[LauraJ]

Thankfully the ng tube is only connected up for a few times aday to give a quick suction. He's very happy about the TPN as he finally has some energy. I'm just hoping things start to go down this weekend,then hopefully things will start moving.

They've told him he can suck hard candy, I'm hoping the sugar will stimulate his gut and make it do what it supposed to

 

[chicky402]

Great thread! After my surgery I looked 6 months pregnant and it lasted for about 3 weeks. Now I have what looks like a pouch above my stomach due to scar tissue. I also am fully numb all around the area where they cut. Laura give it time and I am sure all the swelling will go down. Best of luck

 

[valleysangel92]

Hi Laura

I'm sorry to hear that your husband is having problems , it sounds like he is in the best place. I hope that he starts to see an improvement soon and the swelling improves so that they can decide what to do next. I'm glad to see that they are giving him TPN to keep him strong and prevent too much weight loss, this can really help recovery. Please keep us posted and let him know that we are thinking of him.

 

[DJW]

Hi. I had emergency surgery in 2012 for a partial obstruction that quickly became a complete obstruction then perforation (all within 4 days). I was quite sick. It took three weeks for things to get moving properly. Prior to that I had one that took a month to get working again. Another really sick situation. Hope he feels better soon.