Surgery: over half of my large colon

[aleshanicole]

I am having a bowel resection. The surgeon did a colonoscopy today and inked the areas he was going to resect. He said it is a little over half of my large intestine that he is removing. He said I will not have to have a colostomy bag at all which is of course great but rather surprising to me. Has anyone had this much taken out? Any advice or suggestions. I forgot to ask my surgeon due to the fogginess of anesthesia if it would be open or laparoscopic. Any one know which one it may be. My surgery is on april 16th.

 

[Switalski]

A lot depends on which section of your colon the surgeon is removing. I had a right hemicolectomy - removal of the IC valve, ascending colon, and part of the transverse colon. It was done laparoscopically. I'm sure if you call the doctor, his nurse can tell you what portions they want to remove and how they plan to do it. Good luck. It sounds much scarier than it is.

 

[UnXmas]

I have an ileostomy now, but I had my whole colon except the rectum removed a few years before I got an ileostomy. My colon was removed laparoscopically, but I don't know if that's typical, but surgeons usually aim to do things laparoscopically if they can. Sometimes they plan to do a surgery laparoscopically but during surgery find they have to switch to open surgery. But I've had both laparoscopic and open bowel surgeries, and I honestly didn't find open surgery had a more painful or longer recovery than laparoscopic surgeries, though again, I don't know if that's typical.

You may find your bowel movements are looser without all of your colon to absorb liquid, but apart from that, you may be surprised by how well your digestive system can function with so much missing. I was fully recovered about six weeks after the surgery. Do you know what's wrong with the colon you need removed (e.g. is it inflamed, narrowed, etc.)? Is the part being removed causing you a lot of symptoms at present?

 

[hawkeye]

I had a left hemicolectomy last February and they removed about 20 cm (8 inches). It was strictured. Talking to the surgeon at the follow up, the descending colon, top part of the sigmoid and roughly 1/4 to 1/3 of the transverse colon was removed.

From my understanding, the amount they remove is based on two things - how much colon is affected (i.e. diseased length) and blood supply to the area they have to remove. So they may have to take out a larger area than is actually diseased due to how the blood is supplied to the colon.

I had open surgery and the pain wasn't as bad as I thought. I had a PCA following surgery and the pain management was effective.

Not sure if you have checked these out but -
Link to my experience - http://www.crohnsforum.com/showthread.php?t=59203

Link to other surgery stories http://www.crohnsforum.com/showthread.php?t=30212