Small Bowel Resection - Healing

[alebeau4106]

Hello,

I am new to this site. To sum up my story, I'm 23 years old, living in the South of the US, and was diagnosed with Crohn's disease about 2.5 years ago. Recently, my conditions got so bad that, with the exception of taking one class (Tuesday and Thursday), I pretty much lived in bed next to my heating pad. As things got progressively worse, my GI (who is also a surgeon) recommended that we go ahead and have a small bowel resection. He told me that due to my weight-loss - I'm 6'0 and about 123 lbs. - that having the surgery was really becoming a life or death matter.

After much deliberation and unable to postpone any longer as the conditions got exponentially worse, I decided to have a surgery. My surgery actually took place this past Monday (April 13). With the exception of noticing two or three other potential problematic inflammation sites, my surgery went very well. I believe he removed approx. 12 inches of my small intestine , my appendix, and a little bit of the large intenstine and simply "reattached" the large intestion to the new "terminal" part of my small intestine. I remained in the hospital for a total of 9 days (3 days before surgery to receive IV, and 6 days post-surgery).

While I am getting better (and am now able to walk and feel a substantial difference in pain), eating and going to the bathroom still cause me great angst. When, for instance, I change position (i.e. go from laying down, to sitting up, to standing up), my stomach and the juices and gases in it seem to move around greatly. This movement in turn causes me to have a lot of gas, and occasionally (and embarrassingly), an occasional bathroom accident. This is quite discomforting (both physically and emotionally).

Secondly, whenever I eat something, approximately 30 mins later, I have an eerie stimulation in my stomach, causing me to dash off into the bathroom. While there, I have the most awful (and very painful) gas and diarrhea (or "bile-like" substance) I've ever had. Not only does the liquid of the diarrhea cause my butt great pain, but the movement of the contents in my stomach in addition to the muscle contractions releasing the gas are just awful. This also occurs, as a stated above, when I "change positions". Sometimes when lying in bed, even after not eating, I run off to the bathroom and experience all of this again.

Anyone ever having the surgery or something similar to it, can you tell me if what I am experiencing is normal? Also, when do you think, ballpark, this might get better? Does anyone have any recommendations of what I should be eating or what foods I should be avoiding?

I am a 23 year old student finishing up now three degrees, and I can tell you, this surgical process has been the most difficult thing I've ever had to do in my life. I sincerely hope it comes to an end soon and would be immensely grateful for any advice you might be able to offer.

Thanks for the support and I look forward to hearing from you soon.

My deepest appreciation,

André L.

 

[DEmberton]

It took 2 weeks for my bowels to start to return to any kind of normality, so I wouldn't worry too much at this stage. There was certainly lots and lots of gas.

I'm 6'0 and was about the same weight as you. 3 months post surgery I was back to 170lbs.

 

[alebeau4106]

Thank you so much for your response. Thankfully, even just in the two-day span of this message, I've noticed the irritation associated with "changing position" to have greatly reduced. So, I'm quite happy about this.

Also, the consistency of my stool appears to have slightly thickened, of course, now that I've altered my diet.

The only thing that I'm slightly worried about now is the incredible "stimulation" I feel when going to the bathroom. Two and a half years ago, back when I was still struggling to identify the condition I had (i.e. Crohn's disease), I remember having this incredibly fast stimulation in my bowels that would cause me to release nearly all the contents in a diarrhea-like form. A similar thing is currently happening. Currently, when I go to the bathroom, that stimulation appears to be present again. Even when I believe to have completely emptied my system, the stimulating feeling persists and I am forced to continue attempting to empty (until after several more tries, the sensation ultimately goes away). This is quite an exhaustive (and slightly worrisome issue) as I hope this does not translate into Crohn's later on. Any one have any experience with what I'm talking about? Do you think this is normal in this initial post-surgery stage?

Thanks again for you assistance,

André L.

 

[DEmberton]

Sounds like normal diarrhoea to me.

Have a read of this:

http://www.crohnsforum.com/showthread.php?t=2881

Also look up Bile Salt Malabsorption as that can be a problem post small bowel resection, though it's probably too early to make any assumptions.

 

[UnXmas]

When you're only a very short way into recovery from surgery like you are now, two things generally apply: 1. Things should get a lot better (you'll heal and your digestive system should settle down over the next four to eight weeks or so) and 2. It's always worth checking with your surgeon, or your GP, or call the ward you were on (depending on the way your hospitals and doctors do things, hopefully you were given instructions about who to call when you were discharged). If nothing is wrong, your doctors are the best people to put your mind at rest, and if something has gone wrong, it's best to catch it as early as possible.

I'm sorry this is such general advice, but I've found it applies with many post-surgery symptoms, blips and complications.

As far as what to eat goes, unless your doctors have given you other instructions, low-fibre, soft, bland food is usually advised. Some foods, like bananas, white rice, and smooth peanut butter can help slow diarrhoea. I've always been told to eat jelly babies and apple sauce because they contain pectin. Eat little and often and make sure you drink plenty to avoid dehydration since you are having a lot of diarrhoea.

I'm not sure about the false sensation of needing to empty your bowels. That might be something to ask your doctors about.

 

[joeyme1]

It took me at least a month before my bowels worked right again. My resection was a year ago today, and everything is operating well.

 

[Ozark Hill Billy]

I just had surgery 10 days ago to remove more small bowel terminal ileum (second in my lifetime) and a section of the large bowel. I'm having many of the same symptoms you are with lots of gas, burning bile and mucous like stuff. I started taking a small amount of Questran before my meals and that seems to take the bite off the bile. I think it also helped knock down some of the gas as well, although I still have some gas, mucous and urgency.