Small Bowel (Intestine) Resection - ANY INFO???

[snazzy]

Hi all,

Just curious if anybody has or knows anyone that has had a small bowel (Intestine) resection?

Any info on it would be great eg how long in hospital after? Pain after? What they went thru? How long they couldnt eat after - stuff like that. Wanna see what I might be in for.

So confusing called small intestine/ small bowel! I have 15cms of diseased small intestine, and from all the medication it has started to heal which has caused scar tissue - which has made my intestine VERY narrow. Have a appointment with a doctor at my local hospital this Friday to discuss if I have to have it done. Dont want to, scary stuff. But the only thing taking the pain away is Prednisone at the moment and I dont want to be on steroids for the rest of my life! My face has already started to puff up :-(

Thanks heaps

Sarah :Karl:

 

[mle]

Hi Sarah! sorry to hear about the narrowing. I know that really sucks because I'm kinda in the same situation. One year ago I went in for emergency surgery (this was before they knew it was Crohns) and they ended up removing 12 inches of my small intestine including the terminal ileum. Of course, that surgery was not under the ideal circumstances since it was an emergency and they did not have me do any bowel cleansing preperations. The recovery actually wasn't that bad. I had the surgery in late afternoon and they had me stand up and try to walk a few steps by the next morning and I'll tell you, those first few steps were sooooo hard but after that it got so much easier. You just don't realize how weak you feel after your body's been through a surgery. The pain was there but tolerable since they gave me a morphine pump. When you get a bowel resection your intestines are kind of "stunned" and they don't work right away so you have to have an NG tube which is a tube that goes in your nose and down your throat and it pumps out any stomach juices since your bowels can't process anything yet. This was by far the worst part of the surgery because your throat gets really sore. They let me have ice chips and throat spray to help sooth the discomfort. Once they start to hear your bowels gurgling again (they listened to my stomach everyday) then they'll take out the NG tube. I think I had the NG tube in for four days but it felt like longer. They let me have clear liquids on the 5th day and solids on the 6th day. THey let me go home after I had a poo so they would know that all my plumbing was working correctly.
Honestly, by the time I got home on the 6th day after surgery I felt pretty good and I think what helped is that I tried to walk as much as possible in the hospital. Walking really helps you to get your strength up and your body back to normal. They gave me a perscription for pain meds (codine I think?) when I went home....I took one or two and they made me really dizzy, sleepy and queasy so I just took ibuprofen after that and was fine. It does hurt for a while whenever you have to sneeze or cough or laugh but I went back to work 4 weeks after the surgery I think and did pretty good.

I'm really sad though now because it looks like I'll be having another resection soon. They saw that I have a stricture now at the site of the surgery that grew back since the incompetent GI doctor didn't put me on any medications after my first surgery (fyi...surgery is not guarenteed to put you into remission). But since I'm healthy this time around and have a really good doctor I'm hoping that I'll recover even quicker.
So, that's my experience with small bowel resection surgery. It's definitely good to get that narrowing taken care of....that way you won't have to worry about an obstruction which would be really bad. I'm sure others have had different experiences.
Good luck and feel free to ask any other questions you have!!

-Emily

 

[Kev]

Hi Sarah I don't know if this will help, but I had 1 & 1/2 feet of my large bowel removed. Of all the surgeries I've had, this was literally a walk in the park. And speaking of walks, I couldn't agree more with Mle. The more you walk, the better you will feel. I had my surgery early in the morning, took my very first walk with the assistance of nurses that afternoon. By the evening, I was going for strolls on my own. I tried to double the distance every day, and it was not that hard to do. I was home from the hospital within a week.
There are two methods of pain relief.. morphine pump or epidural. They say the latter is the best method, I opted for the pump because the risk of any complications (extremely rare tho they are) are slightly less. You need to have a consult with the anesthesiologist (sp?) to decide which is best for you
Mine was an urgent, but not an emergency situation, so I was fully prepped for the operation. This lessened the risk of complications and speeded up my recovery. I'm sure there are other forum members who've undergone similar operations, and I think you'll find that their experiences mirror mine and Mles'.
Good luck, hope that this has helped, and keep us posted on your progress..

 

[D Bergy]

I had three inches of my small bowel removed. Since they did not know for sure what the problem was they did not do it with a scope.

The incision was painfull afterwards but the pain meds worked well. If I would have had the option to have the surgery with a scope it would have been a breeze. I was in four days and almost got out in three. If they use a scope it would be shorter. They feed you right away as the intestinal tract takes nourishment directly, by not eating it slows progress. I would keep your eating limited to things that do not in any way promote constipation. The pain meds usually will constipate you so do everything in your power to prevent it. Trust me on that one.

I felt so much better after, I was very happy I had it done. It was not a big deal, but I do not worry much about that sort of thing. That is my wifes department.

Good Luck

Dan Bergman

 

[kpratte]

I've had similar experiences, 13 inches of my terminal ileum. Mine was done laparoscopic http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laparoscopic_surgery with 5 incisions (2 very small ones on each side, one larger (1 inch) in the middle). I had surgery on Monday, was home on Saturday. I had a reaction to some med and puked a good portion of Wednesday.

If you can have it scheduled and such, laparoscopic is the way to go as you will heal a lot quicker, etc.

- Ken

 

[Jvstin]

I've had 2 surgery's so far, both small bowel resections. last was 30cm. if you end up having this done, recovery wise, as Kev said is walking. it took me a few days, but really go on your own pace. don't rush yourself regardless of the pain meds they give you. I found the first time I had a resection being nervous makes recovery so much worse, but you do gotta get up and moving. my surgery was pretty much an emergency, it was done just 2 days after being put in through e.r.
let us know what happens.

 

[Dom_Hock]

Hi Sarah! sorry to hear about the narrowing. I know that really sucks because I'm kinda in the same situation. One year ago I went in for emergency surgery (this was before they knew it was Crohns) and they ended up removing 12 inches of my small intestine including the terminal ileum. Of course, that surgery was not under the ideal circumstances since it was an emergency and they did not have me do any bowel cleansing preperations. The recovery actually wasn't that bad. I had the surgery in late afternoon and they had me stand up and try to walk a few steps by the next morning and I'll tell you, those first few steps were sooooo hard but after that it got so much easier. You just don't realize how weak you feel after your body's been through a surgery. The pain was there but tolerable since they gave me a morphine pump. When you get a bowel resection your intestines are kind of "stunned" and they don't work right away so you have to have an NG tube which is a tube that goes in your nose and down your throat and it pumps out any stomach juices since your bowels can't process anything yet. This was by far the worst part of the surgery because your throat gets really sore. They let me have ice chips and throat spray to help sooth the discomfort. Once they start to hear your bowels gurgling again (they listened to my stomach everyday) then they'll take out the NG tube. I think I had the NG tube in for four days but it felt like longer. They let me have clear liquids on the 5th day and solids on the 6th day. THey let me go home after I had a poo so they would know that all my plumbing was working correctly.
Honestly, by the time I got home on the 6th day after surgery I felt pretty good and I think what helped is that I tried to walk as much as possible in the hospital. Walking really helps you to get your strength up and your body back to normal. They gave me a perscription for pain meds (codine I think?) when I went home....I took one or two and they made me really dizzy, sleepy and queasy so I just took ibuprofen after that and was fine. It does hurt for a while whenever you have to sneeze or cough or laugh but I went back to work 4 weeks after the surgery I think and did pretty good.

I'm really sad though now because it looks like I'll be having another resection soon. They saw that I have a stricture now at the site of the surgery that grew back since the incompetent GI doctor didn't put me on any medications after my first surgery (fyi...surgery is not guarenteed to put you into remission). But since I'm healthy this time around and have a really good doctor I'm hoping that I'll recover even quicker.
So, that's my experience with small bowel resection surgery. It's definitely good to get that narrowing taken care of....that way you won't have to worry about an obstruction which would be really bad. I'm sure others have had different experiences.
Good luck and feel free to ask any other questions you have!!

-Emily

I had twelve inches of my small intestine removed due to a horse accident and a year later had to have emergency surgery due to a small bowel obstruction from scar tissue. Only 16 and had to go through a fifth surgery. I was awake when they inserted the GI tube and had to swallow it while they strung it through my nose into my stomach. I think that was the hardest part. I now keep myself on a diet close to that for those who suffer from crohns to ease the strain on my intestines. Paleo, almost vegan, low fiber. I'm only 22..

 

[Dom_Hock]

I had twelve inches of my small intestine removed due to a horse accident and a year later had to have emergency surgery due to a small bowel obstruction from scar tissue. Only 16 and had to go through a fifth surgery. I was awake when they inserted the GI tube and had to swallow it while they strung it through my nose into my stomach. I think that was the hardest part. I now keep myself on a diet close to that for those who suffer from crohns to ease the strain on my intestines. Paleo, almost vegan, low fiber. I'm only 22..