Hi all. I’m new here. 9 days ago I had a Hemi colectomy. As I had a cancerous polyp. It’s such early days and I’m introducing foods slowly, bowels are still very loose and I’m worried about about how much control I will regain. Any advice is welcome. Thank you .
It takes about six months to form a new normal pattern (maybe longer, but mine was about six months). It is, as you say early days and it will take a while for your bowel to get used to eating those foods again.
I’d say it sounds normal but you can always call your team if worried. They will give you great guidance.
Hi CerysM As Cerys has said, it is very early days yet but you are doing the right thing by taking it slowly. People who have a right hemicolectomy and suffer severe diarrhoea may have a condition called bile acid malabsorption- I think it’s a bit early for you to be worried about this yet but I’ve attached a link to a booklet that mentions it? There’s also a page about the exercises that you can do to help strengthen your rectal muscles which can help to delay the urge to go if you’re not near a toilet
My husband had a right hemicolectomy in July and was back to 90% normal by September. There are just odd things that seem to trigger an upset tummy. He actually found that getting back to his normal diet helped. A food diary may be useful, but it is definitely possible to get back to very near normal. Best wishes.
Thank you for your reply. It’s very reassuring to hear that life can get for most part back to normal. I’m day 10 now & with relief my appetite is returning & bowel habits normalising. Food diary is a good tip. many thanks X
Quick question if that’s ok? Does your husband need to take supplements for his diet? I understand that as the colon is much shorter certain nutrients can be lacking . TIA x
Hi no he wasn't advised to take anything in particular. I think if you have ongoing diarrhea ie six months then they may look at absorption. Was yours a right hemicolectomy? Different parts of the colon do different things. Blood tests would tell you if you are lacking anything in particular. The only thing I would suggest is vitamin D. Its important in the winter anyway and there are some studies that suggest its importance in fighting disease.
I would try to get back to your normal eating pattern and allow yourself to fully recover from the operation and see how you go.
Hubby has started chemo so his diet has gone out of the window at the moment!
Hi, thank you for that. I had a right hemi. I’m going to look into a really good all round supplement that Inc Vit D. Im waiting on biopsy results from surgery, so no idea about chemo yet!
Hope you get good results soon! We were told a right hemicolectomy removes the valve between the small and large bowel which can make things speed up a bit until your body adjusts. We also found that fibre helped rather than made things worse as it absorbs the water but i would tread carefully and build up slowly. We weren't given much advice really but you could have a chat with your cns. We were told to try and avoid medicating the bowel too much with anti diarrhea meds and to let the body adjust naturally as much as possible but sometimes you have to leave the house and do stuff!
