Husbands having a left hemicolectomy

Hi Hayleyc89. I’ve had a search on the board and can only find right hemicolectomy posts! I had a low anterior Resection which is different so not sure my experience would be of much use. I’ve attached a link to a booklet about the various operations and some handy hospital knowledge. These questions will be covered in the meeting with the consultant but I can understand your husband wanting to find out sooner rather than later. Have you thought about maybe giving the nurses on here a ring? The number is 0808 808 00 00

https://bowelcancerorguk.s3.amazonaws.com/Publications/YourOperation_BowelCancerUK.pdf

Hope the meeting goes well

Take care

Karen x

Hi Hayleyc89

My mum had a right sided one ! I can give you info on that if you want to check out the location .

Hope your both doing well.  Nearly there now to seeing this gone for good !

Court 

Thank you Karen I also looked on here to see if I could find any left side stories I guess it's not as common on the left as it is the right side.

I never thought to ring the nurses Thank you xx

Thank you court I have done a lot of reading about right sided I'm just struggling to find people's experiences of left sided xx

Hi Hayleyc68, sorry to hear of your husband's problems. You have probably found out more about the procedure by now but I just wanted to assure your husband that if he has to have an ileostomy (and it isn't definite that he will need one) that it isn't  as bad as he might think. I had a LAR and needed a bag for a year, now reversed. It was explained to me as being part of saving my life, I had lots of help from a great Stoma Nurse team and once I got used to it life went on almost as normal. 

I hope all goes well for you both as he continues his treatment. John

Thank you John this is very reassuring to hear. He is only 38 so it has all come as a big shock but hearing other people's experiences really do help. Thank you again

Hi Hayley

I guess I'm one of those rare ones that had a left hemicolectomy in May '19. I have no idea how long I was in theatre (I didn't ask.) I had keyhole surgery, & they removed approx. 10" of my descending Colon & a bit of the sigmoid. Because of the tumours' position, my surgeon thought it unlikely I would have a stoma; however, it can never be ruled out - until the op. is performed. They have to describe all the possibilities/ eventualities prior to the surgery. I may be wrong, but after reading many posts here, I get the impression that the lower down in the colon the tumour is, makes it more likely to have a stoma fitted....However, if that's the case, the procedure can be fully reversable in a lot of cases.

Re. recovery, I found I bounced back very quickly after the op. I had my op. on a Thursday. They said I was fit to leave on the Sunday, however, I had no one to collect me....So I left on the Monday. A friend shopped for me for a week, but thereafter, I was walking to the supermarket (2 mins away!) & collecting small items. Just be aware that he shouldn't be lifting anything heavy for the first six weeks....not even a very full kettle.

I'm not sure if every hospital do this....but following the op. I was put on blood thinners for thirty days - which means an injection in stomach or upper thigh. They like you to be able to do this yourself, & arm you with a couple of boxes of needles to take home. However, I said I just couldn't do this on myself, so they kindly arranged  a district nurse to call once a day to administer it.

Wishing you both all the best

Marianne

Thank you for your reply and very useful information 

Thanks so much for everyone's input here - I am scheduled for the op on the 10th May.  Left hemicolectomy or an extended right hemicolectomy. Keyhole or maybe not depending on what they find. The team simply won't know until they start the operation

How fantastic to be 'up & running' after such a short time, I'm crossing my fingers that I do as well

Hi I had an extended left hemicolectomy but mine was emergency surgery I also had sepsis so my recovery was a long time I have an ileostomy. My surgery went well I was about eight hours in surgery. 
I also had my sigmoid colon removed 12 weeks ago and i recoverd really well from that. 
feel free to ask me anything xx