Coping With Colon Resection

I am 34 years old and had a resection of the sigmoid section of my colon on June 3rd. They took out about 12 inches and were able to do it laparoscopically which left me with three small incisions up the front of my stomach and one small one on my right side where there was a drain tube. I had the surgery on a Wednesday and was out on Friday and was doing really well for about a week and a half until I woke up one morning with a very bad pain in my stomach. I had it for most of the day and was vomiting and having diarrhea so I finally ended up in the ER where they told me I had an obstruction and rushed me back in for emergency surgery to remove it. Apparently this is common, even though no one had mentioned it to me. A different part of my intestine had become twisted, which was causing the obstruction. Luckily they went in through the same incisions and fixed it and I was in the hospital for another 4 days.

After this I was fine and I am now back to work with minimal pain and very regular bathroom habits. One of the worst parts was that because of the pre-op and then the second surgery it was 3 weeks that I was either without food completely or only on liquids so I was actually malnourished by the time I got to eat. The best thing I did to recover was follow the Dr.’s instructions as far as eating and make sure that I got plenty of rest but also made sure that I got up right away and walked around and kept doing so more and more each day to gain back my strength and to get my bowels moving.

I noticed that getting up often and moving around helped make sure that my intestines were working more easily. Also stool softeners make the first time you go to the bathroom a much more pleasant experience. After the 1st surgery I actually passed out from the pain but the second time the nurse suggested the stool softener and I was much better. This surgery has helped as I am already feeling better and having less problems than I was before. Good luck to anyone who has to go through this.