3 days post op -sigmoid colon removed

Glad that all went, and is continuing to go,  well for you Scoutabout 

I think I had a slightly different op from you (left hemicolectomy) and after all the leaflets and discussions I had prior to the op I was prepared for all sorts - wind, diarrhea, lack of control etc.  I stocked up on incontinence pads (both the sort to go inside your knickers and to put on seating, beds etc), wet wipes,  waterproof mattress protector etc.

I did have no control over my first couple of bowel movements while I was still in hospital, but I found I quite quickly settled down once discharged and now three months on my bowel movements are pretty well back to how I was before the operation, and have been for some time, apart from the fact that the timing is different (presumably because the length of my bowel has changed ?) I often go last thing at night now rather than first thing in the morning.

Perhaps I'm just lucky in that my 'new normal' is not noticeably different. I hope you'll be the same. 

Thank you.  I did the same I ordered a box of pads and  the ones that go on the bed from Amazon. It has settled down already so I’m hoping I’ve wasted my money. The gurgling tummy was unreal.  Thats setting down too.  The doctor just worried me because I’d not considered any of this pre op but to be honest I’d be in a far worse situation I’d the tumour had not been removed 

Can I also ask how you’re eating now.  Are you back to eating everything?   How long did it take?  

Hi Scout,

Glad to hear you’re recovering so well xx I was in hospital for 7 days. Having needed the pads during my hospital stay, I have never had an “incident/accident” since I left hospital (3 months and 2 days since my op). 
I do poo more often than I used to, but have not had a bad bum at all, even with the chemo. Weirdly, my poo is now a lot lighter in colour (Lol) but my toilet habits are actually much better than before, although if I do need a poo, hanging on to it is a bit more difficult, so I’ve got my Macmillan poo card just in case!

I can eat as normal too, but can’t skip meals as it does give me tummy ache. The only thing I have avoided is fizzy drinks as they gave me terrible trapped wind!

Well done you and I hope you get home safe xxxxx

It took me a while to get back to eating properly (see bio) as I had ileus (frozen bowel) the day after the op and so was put on nil by mouth then liquids only then sloppy solids until discharge a week laler. It was such a nasty experience (sick all night) that I was left very wary of eating too much and it was a couple of weeks after the op before I really regained my appetite and was confident eating again. I gradually built up through a lot of very small portions of things like yoghurts, crustless quiches etc....

Edit - forget to add that it took a couple of weeks to fully get back to eating 'normally' and I've not as yet identified anything that I need to avoid. 

Hi Scoutabout 

A couple of years ago I had my sigmoid colon removed and the remaining bowel stretched and reattached.

Some others on this forum around the same time were offered colorectal physiotherapy support straight away to encourage rectal muscles to perform to their best and reduce chances of incontinence.

My hospital didn't proactively offer it and I did find it challenging and needed incontinence pants. However, last year I started to get colorectal physio support and I can say it really is a very worthwhile thing to ask for.

I hope your return home today goes well.

Hi Scoutabout Good to hear that you’ll be getting home soon - there’s nothing like your own bed. I had a slightly different operation and had a temporary stoma for 15 months so my experience is probably a bit different so I’ll just pop a couple of links up. 
https://bowelcancerorguk.s3.amazonaws.com/Publications/RegainingBowelControl_BowelCancerUK.pdf

 Low Residue Diet

They usually recommend sticking to a low residue diet for a couple of weeks cos it’s easier on the bowel. I’d also recommend practicing the sphincter exercises in the booklet as when the urge come it’s sometimes better to try and hold it in until the urge has passed rather than making a dash for the toilet!

Take care and keep us updated?

Karen x

Thank you.  They have said that I can eat what I want and as much as I can tolerate.  I think I’ll stick to the foods on the low residue diet just because my poor bowel has been though the war.  I’ll be kind to it but I really fancy some cheesy puffs which makes me feel happy because I always have them at this time of year. 

My surgeon came to see me and felt that the markers may mean no more treatment is needed  but we both know that it may be offered regardless.  Also she felt that it had only been there for months and I’m low risk of it reoccurring.  Feel happy to be monitored for as long as they want   

I needed positive news today because I felt low after the op which I had read would happen. 

Cheesy puffs should be fine - I think when I looked through the list of suggested foods, 'soft' melt-in-the mouth style snacks  like wotsits and quavers were fine, they just said to avoid normal sharp crisps for a while....

Hiya Scoutabout I had the same op 3.5 years ago followed by chemo. I had 45cm of sigmoid colon removed and was told that I would get back to normal afterwards.

Clearly there are different levels of normal and it does take a while for everything to settle down.

Stick to quite dull food and drink to begin with. If you have chemo you may be glad to just eat whatever you fancy.

Over time revert back to your normal diet but you may find that certain things really cause 'issues'. For me it's anything in the brassica family, parsnips, apricots, pulses etc. I just steer clear of them now or have very small  amounts. My over riding thoughts are that wind is bad, avoid any gas producing food as much as possible. 

There was some leakage to begin with even though the tendency was towards constipation - a surprise to me! By around the 4 month mark I felt more in control and went back to work 6 months after surgery - about a month after finishing chemo.

Fast forward to today. I know things are different, there's food I have to avoid but I'm pretty happy with how things have gone, I've probably felt like this for well over 2 years.