Colon Resection

[dawgs1]

I have just been scheduled for a colon resection in December (Diverticulitis). I will have about 12 inches of my colon removed. I am 44 and have never had surgery before. Can anyone tell me what to expect far as pre-op and post-op procedures. Again, never having surgery before what can I expect as far as shaving, catheters. Due to modesty I really hope this is done while I am asleep. Thanks

[maryb0928]

Hi I'm Mary

I just got home from the hospital after my colon rectal surgery 12/3/07 due to divuticulitus. I'm 48 never sick a day in my life so to say I was scared was the greatest under statement. In addition to the colon resection, the doctor also took out my gall bladder. The 2 days before the surgery were really bad for me. The colon cleasing process isn't all that bad but not eating food for 2 days made me really weak and nauseous. I took the antibotics the doctor gave me the day before surgery, 4 pills at 1:00, 4 pills at 2:00 and 4 pills at 10:00pm. The 10:00pm dose make me very sick and I passed out a few times.

I went in to the hospital at 6:00am and they brought me to a room and put in the IV. By this point I was just happy to be getting it over with. They shaved me and put in the catheter after I was asleep. The next thing I remember was waking up in revovery.

I had oxygen in my nose and thankfully the surgeon was able to do the surgery laparoscopically so I had 6 small incisions. I asked for pain medicine every time I woke up so I never felt any pain.

I was walking the next morning and had a small watery bowel movement.

I was in the hospital for 5 days. Once I was home, I did feel pain but chose not to take any more pain medicine. I have no appetite and I'm not having any really solid bowel movements yets. I'm seeing the doctor tomorrow for a post op visit. I hope everything is ok. I'm not sure what to expect now. I hope this helps a bit. Good luck with your surgery.

[molliemarie]

I went through a colon resectioning in Jan of 07 due to a non cancerous tumor, I had about 10 inches removed. The pre-op was awful I can't lie about that. The drink I had to drink was nasty. It was a gallon container. I had to be at the hospital that morning at 5. They did a lot of blood work and an IV. Then I went in to the operation room. There they sedated me even more. Everything else was done when I was asleep. I woke up in the recovery room. They actually had to cut me open so my healing was longer.

[janmac]

I had 18 inches of my assending colon removed the end of May and a very large tumor on my pancreas. (I was not shaved.) Before surgery an IV was inserted in my hand and a sedative was administered. I walked into surgery (that was a surprise) and got up on the surgery table. An anestetic was injected into my spine. I didn't feel a thing because the sedative took hold. Within seconds I was fast asleep. When I awoke I had a catheter in my bladder, a drain in my abdomen and a IV; none of which hurt. An 8 in incesion was made center front below my breast, around the belly button and then down another couple of inches. After surgery there was pain which was controlled with meds. As hard as it may be to believe I walked the next day and continued to walk each of the 8 days I was in the hospital and a whole lot as I recovered. It took about a month before I got my appetite back - I lost at total of 20 - 25 pounds. What I am dealing with now is a whole lot of gas and more trips to the bathroom than I used to make. Sometimes I have diarrhea which occurs about 20 minutes after I eat. It really hasn't been a problem as I can tell from the rumblings in my abdomen what's going to happen. I feel great now. Best of luck.