First bowel movement after surgery

Hi Oyita,

I agree, it's definitely not something I normally wanted to talk about but while I was in hospital I was asked regularly about any wind or bowel movements by the nurses! It's important to let them know what's going on even if it is a little embarrassing, they were planning on giving me an enema until I let them know that things had started moving again naturally. For me it took a week for things to start moving again and when it did I wasn't regular but the hospital sent me home with movicol to take as needed which helped.

Kind regards,

Chris 

Hi Oyita, it varies I think given that the pain medication can cause a bit of constipation and having no roughage going through the bowels. So a week or so I guess would be normal, but the hospital staff will be watching and asking. So be patient recovery takes time. Kind regards Frank.

Hi oyita, 

I think you have brought up an important and under-discussed topic. 

They wouldn't let me leave hospital until I had climbed a flight of stairs and had a bowel movement. The stairs with all my drips and drains was the easy part! 

I didn't have a bowel movement for 12 days. They were going to start giving me drugs to force a bowel movement if I did not naturally have one on the 12th day. The pain killing drugs made me very constipated. In hindsight I would of asked for laxative medication after 7 days because waiting 12 days made things very painful, and quite a lot of blood which made me think my cancer was still very much a problem which it wasn't and I'm now in remission. 

Thanks for asking the question. Maybe not an attractive topic but a very important one. 

Yes, in deed, here the surgical team decided to take the laxative route quite soon and it made things a lot better. Moving around helps a lot; because even with the laxative until he got up and moved, nothing down there was moving.

Hi oyita,

It was 8 days for me. The medics gave me laxatives (Docusate Sodium) from an early point, but towards the end of the week I asked for that to be upped to Senna as I was feeling so uncomfortable. A couple of days of Senna did the trick

I hope your husband has got past this now, or will do soon

RichM

Thank you RichM, yes infact he is past the first bowel movement but the whole deal with the toilet schedule has been quite painful for muy husband. This is day 14 after the operation and still he gets diarrhea after eating, although the frequency of bathroom visits is going down.

We have found the new routine after the operation quite life changing. I am really looking forward to days, where for both of us, there will be some normalcy.

I also need to go back to work but my hubby does not feel comfortable home alone yet...and it is worrying me.

Do you all still consume some kind of protein drink after the operation? The nutritionist put my husband on something called RESOURCE PROTEIN by Nestle, and the last time he took this he had early dumping. It was not very pleasant ...

Oyita, avoid foods with high sugar content they can cause diahorea and stomach pains. I had a feeding tube directly into the intestines and had a food supplement overnight for a couple of months. Once I was gaining weight I was taken off the food supplement. With regards to the food dumping and eating regime there is several people here who can give you advice. I was given good information from my GP that helped me a lot. Good luck to you and your husband, his confidence will be low at the moment but will improve as you both learn what he can eat. Some people have become lactose intolerant but milk and dairy products were ok for me. It was sugars and simple carbohydrates that caused me problems.

Kind regards Frank.

Hi

Eating and toilet routine is quite challenging in the early days after surgery.

I was helped a lot by the advice from the upper GI clinic dieticians. My advice regarding eating was to avoid drinking with or after a meal. In other words have a drink before eating. My understanding is that the drink flushes undigested food into the small intestine quickly rather than a little at a time. A similar thing could happen if he eats too much at one time.

The toilet frequency and urgency will get better with time, but it does take quite a while for the body to get used to the shorter digestive system. Problems are often experienced with high fat foods which can cause steatorrhea- an unpleasant sort of diarrhoea. It’s important to put on weight after surgery so to avoid high fat food makes this difficult. Also, as Frank says sugary and high carbohydrate food can cause late dumping. So the alternative is high protein foods, which are also high calorie. These are meat, cheese, eggs, fish, and nuts. Cheese and nuts tend to be high fat too!. Getting the balance of foods right is difficult and changes with recovery. My digestion started to settle several months after my surgery, helped by taking a probiotic supplement. 

Your husband should discuss his issues with the dietician until a new normality starts to establish itself. This may be quite different to what most people would consider to be normal, however!

Your husband’s confidence has been hit hard as he is still pretty much an invalid. He is probably feeling that he is relying on you much more than he thinks he ought to which in turn isn’t helping his confidence. It must be hard for you as his carer when progress is slow. But so long as you both stay positive and measure progress in baby steps you’ll be able to support each other and get through this trying time.

I hope some of this makes sense and helps a little.

Dear Brent,

Your message is loaded with information and you have no idea how much i appreciate it. I also shared it with my husband.

He is an engineer and sees things quite black and white, which means that he feels more confident with specific information. And all of this coming from a first hand survivor means a lot.

Unfortunately sometimes doctors get tired of our questions and they can say so much, but those of you who actually went through the process have much more insight and sort of more respect. I am sure you understand what i mean.

We are trying to establish a safe routine at home, which we have been able to do in these past few days, and slowly he will feel more safe i believe. I am trying to manage the food schedule as if he were a small baby. Even thought about getting some thermal containers for soup etc. for when we are out and about.

Another thing I would like to ask is how did you recover in terms of lung power and stamina. We try to take short walks in the afternoon just around our house, nothing much, but he gets tired and out of breath easily. His operation as about 10-12 hrs, and on top of chemo this was a bit much i believe. He keeps up with the breath exercises from hospital days and i am thinking it will get better. I would love to hear your words of advice as well.

Warm regards to all,

Oyita

Oyita

Lung power and stamina were in short supply in the weeks after surgery.

I tried to take a walk outside each day. Initially just about 10 yards from our house and then the 10 yards back. The air outside was different somehow, and the effort of putting on shoes and a coat were an additional effort. I tried walking a little further as the days passed, remembering that I had to make the journey back. There is the danger of doing too much and paying for it by feeling fatigued for days after. I think they call it “boom and bust”!

I kept up the daily routine of an afternoon nap for half an hour after lunch until fairly recently, even now I sometimes feel the need for a nap. It is all to do with our blood pressure being lowered after meals, I’m told.

Three months after my op we spent a week on the Norfolk coast. My wife drove. I managed a walk up a nearby hill, with frequent stops making use of benches along the path. I wondered if I had done too much as there was the return journey to consider, but I surprised myself - it was down hill after all!

Five months after my op my son got married and I found the wedding day tiring, but I was so pleased that I was able to make it as a few months previously I wasn’t sure how long I had left. 

Seven months after my surgery I joined an exercise class with some silver haired ladies and found it helped my flexibility no end. This progressed to Pilates classes which I still do twice a week. Exercise is so important. Countryside and being among nature are therapeutic for the mind.

As I said before a new normality does establish itself with some hiccups and surprises along the way. Beware of boom and bust. Keep improving, Keep appreciating  the gift of life.