Hello all,
I have just joined this group after reading the forums which have been a great source of information to me.
Just a little about myself and my name is Rich and I am 57 yrs old and live in Plymouth.
Last August 2017 I was diagnosed with rectal caner which came as a shock as the only symptom I had was that I was tired all of the time and my GP soon sent me to hospital for tests where they discovered my tumour which was lurking in my rectum. After a barrage of tests and scans I was booked in for surgery on the 4th September for a lower anterior resection.
This operation went well until I developed sepsis which caused my gallbladder to get inflamed and I was put on strong anti biotics for six weeks.
After leaving hospital after 17 days I felt really great and was soon faced with living life with an ileostomy.
The stomas nurses were really good and came and did their home visits and gave me really practical help and advice.
I started on a low residue diet but me being me soon thought I know I will try my normal diet to which my amazement I had no problems at all!
Next was to sample beer which I had read would cause ballooning to my bag to which it did but I thought hey ho I can live with this and just meant that I needed to empty it more whilst out which wasn`t a problem.
On going to see my stoma nurse she was amazed that I had adapted to a stoma so well and that I wouldn`t let it impact on my life. In fact I got quite use to it. ;lol
In December 2017 I went for an enema x ray to make sure the resection had healed to which it had and my surgeon said I was ready to go for my stoma reversal but would have to wait as the winter bed blockage meant all routine ops had been cancelled. oh well I though as my life was going well and I had no ill effects from my stoma I thought happy days.
Me being me then decided to join the local gym as I was wanted to exercise my pelvic floor muscles as I wasn`t using them and had been over six months. The gym instructor was great and showed me several exercises and I cracked on. This was the funny bit and my stoma bag was showing and everyone was staring so I went to my stoma nurse who got me a number 3 support band and hey presto no longer a worry.
Then in July 2018 I got the letter for my reversal surgery on the 3rd August 2018 and this led me to book a holiday to Lanzarote for some sun as reading the forums on stoma reversal the after effects would be horrendous!
Well Friday the 3rd came and I went into hospital and had the procedure and then Sunday evening passed wind for the first time and I though I am a real boy now! Then my first Bowel movement in 11 months.
I was discharged on the 6th and went home where my second home was the toilet for the next few days and I could have cried at times.
I then thought I know Loperamide would come to my rescue and sure enough it did and it was great just going to the loo about 20 times a day!
Then having read that I was have fragmented poo I went to Sainsbury and purchased some Fibogel which a god send and soon sorted me out.
Two weeks later I felt good enough to go out for the afternoon and watch a game of footy and I felt great as I took 2 loperamide before hand.
Yesterday was four weeks to the day after my reversal and I had several pints and a good old Chinese take away of fried rice to which to my amazement didn`t effect me the slightest so today being Saturday the !st September I am hitting the town and going for it as this cancer malarkey is not going to change me at all! lol
The main message I want to get across from my time of dealing with my cancer is be positive don`t let it get you down as we better than the cancer and live life to the max!
Forgot to say that going to the gym may have been a great help in regaining my bum control to put it in words so happy Days folks!
Hello Happy Rich and welcome to the community. What a refreshing story. You have been through a lot, but seem to have come out the other side. We have a few groups here you may be interested in, including Bowel, Colon and Rectum . As well as support for yourself, your experience could come in handy to help those in the early days of treatment. Wishing you continued health. Best wishes.
