Sub total colectomy - Recovery advice

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Hi all,

i was diagnosed with bowel cancer in October 2023, to cut a long story short i had 12 rounds of chemo, and surgery to remove part of my bowel, and had a good recovery , however 6 months later they found another tumour whilst having my routine colonoscopy . I had a sub total colectomy , my large bowel removed and my small bowel connected to my rectum.It has been 6 weeks since surgery and i am still passing stools up to 15 times a day, i have been careful with no fibre and have had some good days but most of the time I am passing stools, on the odd occasion i have not made it to the bathroom in time.looking for advice as its really getting me down.

Thank you

latchbrook 1 month ago

Hi Shazza67

I’m Anne, one of the Community Champions here on the Online Community and, although I'm not a member of this group, I noticed that your post hadn't had any replies yet. Responding to you will 'bump' it back to the top of the discussion list again.

While you're waiting for replies, it would be great if you could put something about your diagnosis and treatment into your profile as it really helps others when replying to you and also when looking for someone on a similar pathway. It also means that you don't have to keep repeating yourself. To do this click on your username and then select 'Profile'. You can amend it at any time and if you're not sure what to write you can take a look at mine by clicking on my username.

"Never regret a day in your life, good days give you happiness, bad days give you experience"

Kareno62 1 month ago

Hi Shazza67 It sounds like you’ve lost a lot of bowel so waste will be travelling through quite quickly and not a lot of time for water to be absorbed? Have you been told that you can take loperamide/immodium? Generally you can take up to 8 a day preferably 30 minutes before eating and it slows down the transit of the stool. It also helps to do the exercises on page 23 of this booklet as it allows you to ‘hold things in’ until you can get to a toilet or sometimes the urge can pass.

https://bcuk.adidocdn.dev/Publications/Bowel_Cancer_UK_Regaining_Bowel_Control.pdf

Hope this helps but you could also contact your Colorectal Support Nurse for advice

Take care

Karen x

Macmillan Support Line - 0808 808 00 00, 7 days a week between 8am-8pm

Shazza67 1 month ago in reply to Kareno62

Thank you so much :-)

Yes i have been taking Immodium, it does help a bit, i will try it 30 mins before eating.

Will also try the exercises, thank you so much for the link, much appreciated!!!