New here... anterior resection last week

Hi

I am sorry I am not much use to you but delighted to hear you are safely through surgery .

I will tag in my good friend who might be able to help you or know someone who can .

Hope you get some help ,

Court 

Thanks to court for bringing your question  to my attention unfortunately I don't have experience of the surgery you've just undergone but I do know some others who should be able to help and I'm tagging them into the cconversation

Peacock62 Can you help songbird and give her advice as you're a few weeks in front of her and could benefit from your experiences and how you overcame them

, Karen I know that this is not possibly the same surgery as you had but I think that songbird would appreciate hearing your comforting words of advice.

hopefully my friends will be able to help you.

If you have a stoma I can help you with your stoma management if you want to know anything please start a new discussion and I'll get back to you.

Hopefully Peacock and Karen will be along shortly together the many other members who will give you all the help you need.

Ian 

Tagging Peacock62 and

Thank you for trying....  not much info out there to help.  Went to the doc today and it seems everything is just trial and error.... every person is different.  When you are uncomfortable every hour seems like 10.... trying to stay positive!

Was your op lower or upper anterior resection?  

YNWA

Mike

Hi . Unfortunately the Bowel is a bit of a diva and does not like being manhandled during surgery but it is early days yet and I’m sure things will settle down over time. The colorectal nurses told me that it would be at least 5 weeks before things started to settle down and if you’ve had a part of your Bowel removed then you may have to get used to a new normal. It might be worth keeping a food diary for a couple of weeks to see if certain foods affect things then you can try to avoid them for now and then maybe try to introduce them again a bit later?

I’ve attached a link to the Bowel Cancer UK publications page which has a couple of booklets about ‘life after your operation’ and ‘controlling your bowels’ through diet which may help?

www.bowelcanceruk.org.uk/.../

Please let us know how you’re getting on

Take care

Karen x

Hi  I had an anterior resection in October so I have been home about 8 weeks now , I had open surgery and have a temporary illostomy . I am on a low residue diet , I was advised to eat little and often , im not sure yet what my new normal is i guess when i have the reversal I will find out ,just take things slowly you need to give your body  time to recover and adjust  . Have you been advised on diet and do you have an illostomy ? I have learned with my recovery to not expect too much too soon .

Lots of love take care

Peacock62 xxx 

Peacock62 and  thanks for responding so quickly to the post, I appreciate your help

Ian

I had a low anterior resection in march. It started to settle, then chemo has upset it, so I am still very much like yourself unfortunately. Sorry it is not better news. Hopefully if you are not getting chemo yours will settle quicker.

Hi!

I had a lower anterior resection in April 2018 for Stage 1.

The early days were similar to what you are describing. It settled over time, but I did get constipation quite regularly. 

It took a few months to settle, but was manageable after the first few weeks. I did turn out to have scar tissue, and had a procedure to help with this and must admit things are lots better. 

Everyone is different and I find that eating high fibre helps me. But I didn't start doing this until a, few weeks post op. It really is a case of trial and error. 

Good luck with your recovery xxxx

Hi I'm not sure wot I had but wot I can say is I suffer the same symptoms. I go from being ok where ok is going upto 10 times a day to constipation and severe stomach cramps and gurgling and rumbling stomach and bloatedness. Funnily enough I am now going through a period of constipation after not going for 2-3 hrs I know I am going to be constipated. I take movi-col every other night to try and help when I get the bouts of constipation as I really struggle with the bloatedness and severe stomach cramps. I am currently receiving chemotherapy and the dose has been reduced in the last 2 weeks but still the constipation comes so sometimes it may be a case of coping and picking up on the signs which overtime will get easier and then you can do the high or low fibre diet bit depending on what you are at the time. Hopefully this helps a little.

Regards Mark