Hi, my mum has bowel cancer which has spread to her liver. She underwent a bowel and liver resection around 4 weeks ago. Hospital advised surgery had gone well and both bowel tumour and liver lesion were removed. We weren't told size of lesion or how much of the liver was removed.
The first two weeks of recovery seemed ok (mum was in hospital around 10 days) and it was only the tiredness and sometimes pain that my mum commented on (I understand these are to be expected).
However last week I ended up calling an ambulance as my mum had been experiencing indigestion type pain on and off, this was accompanied by fever and an episode of vomiting. The hospital done full bloods, chest x ray, urine & stool samples and said everything had came back ok apart from her liver function levels (these have been consistently raised since surgery but we’ve been told this is to be expected and could be due to liver regenerating).
They were happy to let her go home but said to keep an eye on her symptoms and she has to go for more bloods next week to check LFTs.
Since this she has been itching excessively, morning to night. Her stoma output was light coloured a few days ago and the urine sample she done at hospital was amber coloured. I’ve googled these symptoms (I know I shouldn’t) but they all seem liver or bile duct related.
when we went to a&e they asked if the bile duct was removed as it could be related; but we don’t know this info as when we’ve asked at the hospital no one could tell us.
when I called the hospital again they just said if she is in pain or becomes jaundiced to go back to hospital but still didn’t seem too concerned and suggested it could be stoma/diet related.
Has anyone had these kinds of symptoms after a liver resection and raised liver function bloods? We do have an appointment this week and have been keeping a food diary and writing any symptoms down but just wanted to see if this is common?
Thank you x
Hi cjb.0809
We have chatted before on the stoma group. I haven’t had a liver resection but did have my gallbladder removed last year, and prior to that I had hugely elevated liver enzyme levels. These were caused by a gallstone locking my bile duct.
My bilirubin level was high, and this can cause intense itching. I was also jaundiced, and a result of that was clay coloured poo (I have a colostomy) and very orange urine, along with nausea and vomiting.
My other liver enzymes were all over the place and very abnormal. Doctors were not unduly concerned at the time, and my results have gone back to normal now. Just adding this reply in case any of it might help and I can tell you my results numbers if you need them in case your mum’s issues are related to an issue with the bile duct rather than the liver.
Sarah xx
