Diagnosis and post-op

Hi snowybear and a warm welcome to the board. Yes I can imagine you’re feeling pretty shell shocked after the last few weeks but things will honestly start to settle down over time. I hope Rac doesn’t mind me tagging her as I think she had a right hemicolectomy and might be able to share her experience.

So try to remember that you’ve had a major operation so a lot of the twinges and aches will be everything settling back down again. It’s good to get a bit of exercise if you can but don’t go overdoing it - you’re looking at about 5 weeks recovery with no lifting anything heavier than a kettle with 1 cup of water in. There’s done pages in this booklet about ‘after your operation’.

bowelcancerorguk.s3.amazonaws.com/.../YourOperation_BowelCancerUK.pdf

Did you have keyhole or open surgery? I know with keyhole they pump you full of air and this can take several days to disperse so may be causing the bloating? Peppermint tea can help with this. The bowel does not like being manhandled and will make its feelings known. Sometimes it goes on strike and other times it will go the other way. This will hopefully lessen over the next few weeks but in the meantime be prepared with the softest toilet paper you can find, wipes and some soothing ointment for your poor bottom - baby’s nappy cream or Vaseline for example.

It’s best to stick to a low residue diet initially then gradually go back to your normal diet - there’s a few ideas on the post below

 Low Residue Diet 

Reading this back I feel like I’ve used the term ‘settling down’ a lot but it is still very early days. Please ring your colorectal support nurse for a chat if you’re worried about the medical side of things and the support desk here is available on the number below for a chat too?

Im glad you’ve found us here - we’re all at different stages of treatment and recovery and happy to help and support you through yours

Take care

Karen x

Hello and welcome,

I had an emergency right hemicolectomy in November 2023 due to a larger mass in my caecum and appendicitis. After surgery I found that my bowels were very unpredictable for many month, on day I had to take loperamide, the next laxative.  As for diet, I’ve always been told that I can eat what I like but to avoid cereal and include tree nuts, kombucha and kefir. I’m now 3 weeks post chemo and my bowels seem to have settled down. 

For the first 6 weeks after surgery I was told to avoid lifting and I had many different pains/sensations in my stomach. Do not panic, it will pass. To begin with I drank a lot of peppermint and green tea. 

Wishing you a speedy recovery. If you have any questions please ask. If you click on my name you can read my full story including staging. 

Rachael 

Hi Rac and Karen - thanks so much for replying. It's so good to connect with people who are going through or have been through something similar. Rac - I can really empathise with the unpredictable bowels - after 3 days of really bad diarrhoea today I've not had a single bowel movement.

I managed to get through to my CNS today who reassured me that the bowel symptoms and bloating are all to be expected less than 2 weeks after the op - especially as I had so much of my bowel removed (the tumor was in the transverse colon). They've reiterated keep trying eating everything, but recommended 5 small meals rather than 3 big ones to try make things easier on my system. 

I did have keyhole surgery, so that might explain the bloating, so I will definitely get myself some peppermint tea. 

I guess what I'm learning is I need to trust the process and the people that have done this and been before this before, rather than trying to control and manage every symptom myself. I've never been very good at not being in control, so this is going to be a learning curve.

I've been blown away by the kindness and support of people on here and on the helpline - thank you so much for providing some light in these gloomy first few days.  

Alastair 

Hello! 

My mum had the same op as you mid Feb and we found white bread, white pasta etc to be much better than brown bread etc.

Hope that helps a little xx