Bowel Urgency Following Resection

jzanches

I am a 71-year-old retired chemist. I normally walk 3+ miles and bicycle 7+ miles every day and play tennis doubles 2-3 times a week for 2 hours. In early Dec. 2007 I had a routine colonoscopy that resulted in the removal of a large polyp that subsequently proved to be cancerous. Complicating things, my colon was perforated during the procedure which resulted in a four-day hospital stay after an emergency room visit. The colon resection surgery was done on Jan. 2 and, owing to my rapid recovery I was discharged three days after the surgery. The removed section of colon as well as the removed associated lymph nodes were found to be cancer free. My recovery continued for about another week after which my bowel movements became strained and became quite frequent, often with little discharge. Drinking the usual fiber preps, mineral oil, V-8 and prune juice and eating lots of fruits including dry prunes and apricots only marginally improved the situation. The surgeon suggested drinking more fluids which I think I am doing. As I do have at least two-three major BMs a day blockage or adhesions are not indicated although they cannot be ruled out. The more active I am and the more I keep my mind off of the urgency the better off I am although the urgency doesn't seem to go away for very long. I should mention that I also have a bad case of hemmrhoids. Any suggestions?

Jose

shmurciakova

Hello Jose,
First of all, give it some time! You have only had your surgery a couple of weeks ago. These things really do take time and depending on which area of the colon was removed, you can expect different things. I had my Sigmoid colon removed and one thing you can certainly expect is to go more often than you did before. For example, I used to go once/day. Now I go 2-3 times a day and sometimes more. I enjoy backpacking a lot and I just have to accept the fact that I am gonna have to go to the bathroom once in the morning, once at night, and maybe during the day too. Some people have to go much more often than that, especially it seems, people with a tumor in the rectum, or high up near the small intestine.
Anyway, my advice would be to take it easy on the prune jucie, prunes, and apricots. All those are supposed to make you go to the bathroom more. Fiber is good, but like your doctor said drink lots of water! (or you'll have the opposite problem).
Try probiotics and digestive enzymes. You can get them at the grocery store, probiotics are in the refrigerated section. You can also get them at any health food store. My mother is also in her 70s and has been having myriad problems, mostly diarrhea. She started taking probiotics (which are actually good for everyone) and she has seen marked improvement.
Good luck to you,
Susan H.

KFalvey

Hi Jose,

I had another resection done on Dec. 5th on the rectosigmoid area and still have between 6 and 12 BMs a day. The urgency part will subside soon; mine did at about 5 weeks. I've stopped using any stool softners or anything else that will make me go more frequently since I'm not having any problem there. Susan's advice is excellent. Just give it a little more time and you'll feel better soon. Thank God everything else was cancerfree. Hopefully you won't have to do any chemo. I first had the ascending colon removed and didn't have any bowel problems until this last surgery, so hopefully you will get everything straightened out soon. Good Luck!!
Kandy

cheryltaco

KFalvey said:

Hi Jose,

I had another resection done on Dec. 5th on the rectosigmoid area and still have between 6 and 12 BMs a day. The urgency part will subside soon; mine did at about 5 weeks. I've stopped using any stool softners or anything else that will make me go more frequently since I'm not having any problem there. Susan's advice is excellent. Just give it a little more time and you'll feel better soon. Thank God everything else was cancerfree. Hopefully you won't have to do any chemo. I first had the ascending colon removed and didn't have any bowel problems until this last surgery, so hopefully you will get everything straightened out soon. Good Luck!!
Kandy

I agree with the others, the best medicine is time. I wrote about this very thing after my surgery. I remember having rectal pressure and urgency sometimes with little or no evacuation. I still get thay every once and awhile but it is usually a result of something I ate. I still go more frequently than I did in the past (3-5 times per day) but like I said, the urgency only comes when I eat something very rich. I usually take Lomatil if I know I'm going somewhere for a period of time and especially if I will be eating. My doctor told me to avoid high fiber foods for the first 4-6 weeks after surgery to let my body settle. Then he told me to take a fiber supplement twice per day, which I do now. Good luck to you, and again give it some time. Cheryl

jzanches

cheryltaco said:

I agree with the others, the best medicine is time. I wrote about this very thing after my surgery. I remember having rectal pressure and urgency sometimes with little or no evacuation. I still get thay every once and awhile but it is usually a result of something I ate. I still go more frequently than I did in the past (3-5 times per day) but like I said, the urgency only comes when I eat something very rich. I usually take Lomatil if I know I'm going somewhere for a period of time and especially if I will be eating. My doctor told me to avoid high fiber foods for the first 4-6 weeks after surgery to let my body settle. Then he told me to take a fiber supplement twice per day, which I do now. Good luck to you, and again give it some time. Cheryl

Thanks to all for the suggestions and good wishes. I guess that there is no magic bullet for my current urgency and that time will hopefully result in at least some relief. I should be very thankful that no other cancers were indicated. A CT scan tomorrow of the chest/abdomen/pelvis will hopefully show no further cancer. Again, thanks.

Jose