Colon Resection

[altosongbird]

In March of this year I had a foot of my large intestine removed because of a large polyp found during a colonscopy. I recovered well and got back to life but then in June started having pain on my right side where the colon was resewed back together. I have a high tolerance for pain so I just kept taking Motrin and kept going. By the end of June I had a large lump on my side and the pain was very severe. The surgeon said come in right away. I was sent straight to the hospital for a CAT scan and admitted. An abscess developed because of a Fistula. In all the years of his practice he had not seen a patient develop this 4 months after surgery. A drain was inserted to drain off the abscess. I was sent home 3 days later with this accordian type of drain that I was to flush 2 times a day and empty. I went back 2 times for an assocogram that kept track of the Fistula. Fistulas will sometimes dry up but this one did not and in fact it got worse. We were concerned because we had plans for a family reunion in Florida. The weekend before we left the pain came back and I went back to the hospital. A new drain was inserted but it did not work so the surgeon opened up the site with an open wound that needed to be stuffed with gauze. As the would healed it was hoped that the Fistula would dry up. We made our trip but I remained very tired and my poor skin became raw from the daily changing of the bandages. The fistula did not dry up. The bandage was full of bowel and the pain came back. So we went back to the surgeon He scheduled surgery for next week. I have to have another colon resection He will cut the colon on the each side-get rid of the Fistula and resew the colon.

I try to remain optimistic about this whole situation. In March I was working part time at a bookstore but came home to care for my 82 year old mother in law that moved in with us. Our youngest son graduated in June and we adjusted to having Emma in our home. We were able to find a wonderful Adult Day care facility for her to go to 3 days a week and the other 2 weekdays an aide comes in . I have been unable to lift or care for her during this time. My husband and our 2 college age sons who still live at home have picked up the slack. We are preparing for another surgery and another recovery period and hopefully by mid October I will be once again able to take care of my family.

Has any one else had to deal with 2 surgies like this? We wonder if I did something wrong the first time or ate too soon and cause the Fistula to form. This time we plan on staying on a soft diet for longer. My husband thinks I ate far too soon. The doctor said that there is no research done on when a patient should start eating that would effect things. But I am erring on the side of caution and will eat more slowly coming out of this the 2nd time because I do not want to go through it a 3rd time!

The only good thing about this is that I am loosing weight. I needed to loose 100 pounds in the beginning of the year. I have been overwieght for many years and even thought of gastric bypass. This situation with 2 surgeries this year is helping this process along without that. I have lost 50 pounds since the beginning of the year. My goal of being under 200 pounds by the time I turn 50 in January of 2009 will be met. I am only 50 pounds shy of that. In March 30 pounds came off and I expect more will come off for this surgery. I am also type 2 diabetic and had high blood pressure With the extra wieght off I have had normal blood pressure and have gone off that med and have cut the diabetic med in half. My blood sugars have been normal for some time.

So this situation is not fun but I expect to come out of it healhty and will be fablous in my 50s!!!

[dunplumbperfect]

I to had to have multiple surgeries as a result of my resection. After the initial laporoscopy I was put on a liquid diet. After a day or tow it was obvious that things weree not moving in my intestinal tract. I spent a week in hell which included a day and a half of vomitting. After 4 days of agony they inserted an NG tube. One week after the first surgery I was operated on again. The rerouting of the colon had "pinched" my intestine. The surgeon cut the small intestine and brought it over the colon. I appeared to be progressing well until a redline appeared near the wound. I was placed on Zosyn. I was sent home at the end of two weeks in the hospital. I was placed on a home care IV machine to deliver the antibiotocs. I had a doctor's appoinntment 2 days after being sent home. He cut a couple of staples in the open wound, which was not healing well and had "bad tissue at its base. He also prescribed an abdominal wrap. The wrap was on about 3 days when I started oozing yucky brown fluid from one of my wounds. It turned out an abcess had developed and was full of fluid. I was readmitted to the original "provincial hospital" that performed the initial operation. A CAT scan was run, fluid removed by needle and a too small (as it turned out) drain inserted. A wound vac was put on for the larger wound.

After being home for 3 days another hard spot appeared on my abdomen and the VN determined fluid was building up. We made several calls to the surgeon which were not returned. At that juncture I abandoned the provincial hospital and went into Boston to a world class facility. Another CAT scan confirmed a large pocket of fluid. I was operated on (for the fourth time in 4 weeks) and the abcess was flushed out and a much larger drain was installed. I have an appointment tomorrow for anotherr
CAT scan. Also the drain tube appears to have caught a stitch and I need a day surgery procedure to get the tube out.

I am very concerned about all these screw ups. I am a self employed plumber and if I ran my business this way I would be out of business iin a year.

Comments would be appreciated, especially comments on the frequency of intestinal pinching. Was that a big boo-boo or is it fairly common?

I am 5 weeks into this ordeal with a minimum of severa more to go.