Questions, fresh out of surgery

[Manda]

Hello! After having obstructions for a year, I have had part of my small intestine and a little bit of my colon removed. I had 94 cm of intestine removed (more than originally thought) and I have a few questions. I'll ask my doctors when they do rounds (no telling when I'll get out of here, but I thought I'd ask you guys.)

How does losing that much intestine impact digestion? I imagine it goes faster. How does it impact weight gain/loss? I still haven't farted or anything, and I had my surgery two days ago. I'm really missing solid foods as I haven't had any for a week, and was just recently moved up to all liquids as opposed to clears. If you've had this, how long did it take you to recover? I felt pretty good for those two days except this morning. I thought I had a gas cramp and then I realized it was where they did all the work in my side that was hurting. I walked a quarter of a mile on the hospital floor, and when I tried to go again I couldn't even make it out of my room it hurt so much! But I hadn't had my pain medication for a while.

So if anyone has any input, that'd be great!

Some details about me.. I'm a 22 year old female, diagnosed with Crohn's disease in April of 2009. Working on getting on Humira, only on 20mg of prednisone.

 

[UnXmas]

Hi, I'm sorry I can't give you specific answers as, although I've had a lot of surgeries, they aren't the same as the one you've had, but I'll do my best to answer.

The colon only absorbs salt and water, so removing any part of it should not, as far as I know, affect your weight or your ability to absorb nutrients. When I had my colon removed, I was told to make sure I drank plenty and to add more salt to my diet - but I had a full colectomy, and would imagine if you've had much less of it removed, you may not need to consume much more liquid or salt.

The small intestine is more important, but I think you'll need to speak to your doctor about which part has been removed and its effects. I've found the more immediate issue following surgery is that you'll probably lose quite a bit of weight while recovering simply due to not being able to eat enough, but over a few weeks this should return to normal.

For some reason I've always been allowed on solid foods right away, except with my most recent ileostomy surgery. The surgery itself did not require me to stop eating solid food (I actually ate a normal tea on the day of the surgery) but a few days later I developed ileus (paralysis of the digestive tract) and could not eat at all, and received fluids and TPN via IV. When I did go back to eating, it was very difficult to eat for a few weeks, but gradually got easier.

I have usually found that recovery should be linear. The times when I seem to be going backwards - feeling worse in any way than I had done previously - it was because something was wrong. One time an infection had developed, and the ileus was the other time. That's not to say that every time you're in a bit more pain something is wrong, but if you're finding you're really in more pain than previously, or more exhausted, and it doesn't seem to be improving, I'd get checked out right away. In particular, check your temperature and see a doctor if it is too high. It quite often is following surgery, but if it's very high or consistently raised, it may indicate an infection or other problem.

I hope by now you may have spoken with your doctors? Sorry I can't be more helpful. How are you doing now?

 

[Grumbletum]

Hey Manda, hope your recovery is going OK. It can take a wee while for the bowel to wake up again post surgery. I had passed gas, but not the real deal five days after surgery so they gave me Movicol to help things along.
People who've had a lot of bowel removed sometimes have issues with Short Bowel Syndrome. Another thing which can affect bowel movements etc is when they have removed the IC valve.
Btw, a quarter mile sounds like quite a lot two days post op. I know it's good to get moving as soon as you can, but the pain might be that you're overdoing it a bit.

 

[AJC - Australia]

I have had the surgery three times.

i wouldnt let them feed you anything UNTIL you have farted…because farting again shows that your guts have woken up from the anaesthetic. If you eat food before your guts are awake you can get a 'paralytic ileus' - i have had one and it was NOT nice.

Once the guts fully heal from the surgery (about 3-6 months) i always felt pretty normal….after the third surgery, YES there was things the consider, like the excess bile in the poo (questran can fix that)/.……just remember that you will to take vitamin B12 injections every 3 months forever after…

 

[UnXmas]

Btw, a quarter mile sounds like quite a lot two days post op. I know it's good to get moving as soon as you can, but the pain might be that you're overdoing it a bit.

I agree - finding the right balance between pushing yourself too hard but making sure you do try can be difficult regarding movement following surgery.

Personally I don't push myself - I walk further only when I feel ok to do so. But I also know that the moment I am up to something, I will do it - I won't continue to stay in bed all day once I'm well enough to be up, whereas I think some people have to force themselves to get moving. In the several days following a major surgery, I've found that getting up to walk to the bathroom a few times a day is enough. Before you leave hospital, you're usually required to be able to walk a short distance (e.g. to the end of a hospital ward and back a few times) and able to go up stairs. But it's very individual - if you have a lot of health issues prior to the surgery, you're not going to be as mobile as someone who was completely fit and healthy besides the operation.

With abdominal surgery, be very careful about bending, and don't lift anything even remotely heavy for at least 6 weeks.

 

[UnXmas]

I have had the surgery three times.

i wouldnt let them feed you anything UNTIL you have farted…because farting again shows that your guts have woken up from the anaesthetic. If you eat food before your guts are awake you can get a 'paralytic ileus' - i have had one and it was NOT nice.

Once the guts fully heal from the surgery (about 3-6 months) i always felt pretty normal….after the third surgery, YES there was things the consider, like the excess bile in the poo (questran can fix that)/.……just remember that you will to take vitamin B12 injections every 3 months forever after…

I had post-surgical ileus too. I was told it was caused by the intestines being touched and handled during the surgery (not because the surgeon did anything wrong, it's just a reaction that sometimes occurs and which can't be predicted), not by eating.

 

[AJC - Australia]

yawn.
they would say that!!!
my doctor was so apologetic about it that he gave me a 50% discount on his fees.
i needed surgery 6 weeks later because the surgical site got so infected that they thought it better to 'try again'….
basically i started eating 24 hours after the resection…the soup sat in my stomach for two days and became putrid….i vomitted out this horrible green stuff, it was moving around the hospital bed sheets! I couldnt vomit anymore because it felt like i had blown the stitches in my gut and skin….i probably did…..anyway, they (nurses) should of at that point stucj a hose down my throat and sucked out the remaining putrid food, but they didnt….so, my poor gut after not really eating for a week or two leading into the surgery, the first thing it sees is putrid food…..it got to the surgery site and just well, you can imagine. Infection. A week later I was squeezing my whole torso and puss was oozing out from where the stitches were, i was taking heavy dose of flagyl to calm it down and I couldnt eat for about a month…..once i stabilised, they wheeled me in and cut another 10cm out……2 months after that they wanted to operate again. I was 25.

THANKFULLY i got well again without the need for more surgery.
Thankyou REMICADE