Any tips? The consultant might have joked that my husband is his fast track patient and let him out on the 2nd day post op, but..OMG - M has now turned into a man size, 9 month old, with mulitple urgent bowel movements(bm's) I feel so sorry for him, I didn't know the body was capable of so much output from so little input.
Had yet another rough night (had broken sleep for last 6 days), managed to get off to sleep 6.30am, up for 3 bm's 8.30, still sleeping now and its about 10.30am, when he wakes I'll go out to buy more barrier cream and inco sheets if I can find them, then tackle the laundry pile.
He's so upset and wishing he had kept the stoma and hadn't had the op after all.
Loosing weight fast and eating next to nothing.
It's got to get better.
Learnt he lost just over a foot of the sigmiod, and understand that was the bit which removes fluids from the stool, no wonder he has no control!
I wish he had been given a meeting with the colorectal people and given a choice, just to prepare him before the op.
On the bright side, he's home without Warfarin, there again he's pretty active although not through choice!
Been advised a low residue diet is his best bet, or in other words bland and stodgy.
Would love some positive tips if any of you have been through this, we're both feeling pretty disappointed and in low spirits; back on that well known rollercoaster yet again, and this is supposed to be part of his cure and recovery Hmmm.....
FormerMember
Hi Jane, My husband had part of his sigmoid removed in March with no warning of what the effect of this would be. He spent the first six weeks after his op very near the loo, lots of semi-running upstairs and diving out of bed, no trips out without a great deal of forward planning, no full nights sleep. Sore bottom with vaseline and sudocrem to the rescue. When the chemo started we couldn't tell if the chemo was causing the extra output or his bowel had just not settled yet. We were eventually advised to feed him a low residue diet which happens to include white bread, white rice, white pasta.....it had taken me years to wean him over to wholemeal/brown etc thinking I was keeping him healthy. LOL. Anyway he did a lot of snacking while I was out at work, mainly cakes and biscuits (custard creams and digestives being his favourite choice) and chips, burgers, pies were often his choice of meals. In fact I think he would have felt he was in heaven had I just dropped him off at a certain burger chain. I decided it would be ok to let him eat this way for a while and it seemed to have the least explosive impact on his system. He gained weight througout chemo on this 'unhealthy diet'. Now nearly six months on and a couple of months since end of chemo we do manage whole nights of sleep more often than not and pretty much normal routines. He is back to healthy food choices and we are trying to get fit together. There are things he still has to avoid eating or drinking which can have devastating results one of which oddly enough is celery...curries and chillis are no problem but a bit of celery and the bm's go into hyperdrive. I think it's probably different for everyone and definitely worth keeping a food and drink diary to see what works for M. I do remember at the start of all this he was in the depths of despair thinking he would be like this for ever but things improved slowly and steadily. Just keep positive and try out different foods.
have bowel cancer and have often messed myself - probably as a result of chemo and radiotherapy and I having surgery on the 18th September where I might have a temporary or permanent stoma depending on how much of the rectum they can save. Diet doesn't seem to make anu difference to me - but when I have to go I really do have to go.
When I was on radiotherapy during the last two weeks I got radiation burns and going to the toilet was excruciating. I was given Instrasite gel l which amazingly cleared everyhting up after two or three applications so it might be worth trying that.
