Incontinence Products following hemicolectomy

Hi Fluff197862c860d9 and a warm welcome to the board. Yes ileus is quite common and not very pleasant but it does settle down. It is very early days so encourage your dad to eat but to stick to a low residue diet - I’ve attached a link to some examples below - it’s not a very healthy diet but it’s easy for the bowel to manage in the first couple of weeks then he can start to think about introducing more fibre 

https://community.macmillan.org.uk/cancer_types/bowel-colon-rectum-cancer-forum/f/general/258088/low-residue-diet

I’ve also attached a booklet about regaining bowel cancer after surgery and there’s some good muscle exercises in there for the anal sphincter. Sometimes it’s easier to hold the urge in than to risk an accident making a dash for the toilet then you can go once the immediate urge has passed.

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

Sometimes a women’s sanitary pad is sufficient but if not it might be better to invest in some proper faecal in continence pants or pads. Make sure he has soft toilet paper and lots of baby wipes as these can be gentler on the skin and some cream like sudocream or similar as your bottom can get very sore after a lot of visits. 

Hopefully things will settle down quickly but it can take a couple of weeks. If he’s still struggling then it might be worth asking his consultant/colorectal support nurse if he can take loperamide/immodium to slow things down resulting in a less liquid output.

So sorry to hear about your mum and then your poor dad receiving his diagnosis. Please post again if there’s anything else we can help you with?

Take care

Karen x

Hi… what a lot for your family to have to deal with. I can empathise a bit because my diagnosis came just six weekscafter losing my younger brother just after his 70th birthday. 
you’ll find lots of help and support here.

one small thing, if you do use wet wipes try to avoid using the loo to dispose of them, they build up on the seeer and cause problems

Hope your Dad starts to feel better soon

Hi Fluff

Sorry to hear about your dad. As others have said - it does settle, for me it took a few weeks. Just a tiny caution - don't get too excited once its settled and let him eat too much in one go, or introduce too many things at once. Thats how I got a temporary bowel blockage (introduced too many new things too quickly). Just slow and steady build up and small meals are the ticket.

We've had some experience on incontence pads - Tena and iD are good options. Tena is available pretty much everywhere, including grocery stores. We found Amazon, Incontence Supermarket, and Incontence Choice websites were well priced. Just make sure you measure your dad to get a good fit, thats the secret. 

Another small tip - Bamboo incontence bed pads work well. They not like the plasticy bed covers that make one hot and sweaty, a lot more comfortable in bed. Here's a link to one's we've used on Amazon in case helpful...

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0C3VM5SJY?ref_=ppx_hzsearch_conn_dt_b_fed_asin_title_1&th=1

Wishing your dad and you the best

Thank you an apologies for the delay in responding. Dad ended up in ICU for 5 days and they had to open him up again, so we’re back to reintroducing food slowly again. They thought he had a leak, but the join was good. Instead they found blood in his abdomen. 

He’d also got dehydrated with the amount of bowel movements he’d had (7 in one day). What really upset him was the fact just standing up seemed to suddenly cause it to happen - no warning. Did that happen to you? 

We will keep a close eye on what he’s eating - obviously he’s still in the hospital just now. 

Hi Fluff

Really sorry to hear Dad's been in ICU & had surgery again. I hope he's doing better. No, standing didn't trigger it for me. Can't recall any specific trigger.

Shame poor chap, 7 in one day is a lot, prety much impossible to stay hydrated at that rate. At least being in hospital now, they should get that more under control before discharging him (might give him loperamide if they think suitable for him). Holding thumbs for you that Dad improves quickly, and things settle! And look after yourself - can just think how stressful this is for you.