anybody have experiences w/partial small bowel blockage after APR surgery?

mamalea333

Help!..my husband had his APR surgery w/permanant colstomy on May 23. He did extremely well..the tumor (which started as stage 3) was totally removed (rectum, anus & base of sig.colon) and 26 of 26 nodes tested negagive (thanks be to GOD, from whom ALL blessings flow)..so it was downgraded to stage 2. Post op problems have included a nasty UT infection, which sent us to the ER one night & has since been treated & has healed. NOW, he has developed a partial blockage in the small bowl. NOthing the dr's can see, looking at his xrays, they only see that the small bowl in thinkening in certain spots, we are told from adhesions as a result of surgery. He has had output from the stoma all week (this started on tuesday, it's now saturday)but it has been liquid..one day it was a tiny bit solid, but not much of anything (sorry to be gross, but we are all grown ups here!)..and he has had no nausea, vomiting, fever, etc..he is able to drink liquids & eat small soft diet foods & keep them down...only things aren't passing though like they should. Dr. tells us these things generally work out on their own, so he has him on a liquid diet until it does. He is keeping a close watch on him & said he looks too good to put him in the hospital (no nausea or vom.)..I am wondering if anyone has had experience w/ this..and if so how long did it take to work out? He has had gas pass through the stoma too...He has had intermitant cramping (due to the gas & matter locked up in there??)..any advice would be appreciated here...thank you & prayers would be appreciated too!
thank you
mamalea

son of hal

This too shall pass
Hi Mamalea- I'm glad your husband is doing well after his APR and some of these things are to be expected. While my APR was a bit different than your husband's (I had a temp. illeostomy) I too had a partial blockage that took less than 48 hours to resolve. I was doing so well I decided to eat a couple handfulls of cashews within an hour of eating an apple (with skin) and that did it. Anyway, I researched remedies online and followed different methods. The one thing that worked for me was moving around differently. I would lay on my bed and lift my knees toward my chest and then roll side to side. Within a few minutes I let out a big gass bubble. Another was twisting my body while lying on my back by keeping my shoulders on the bed and twisting my hips side to side. I would also walk around my house. I did laps around my diningroom table while talking on the phone. I called my siblings to update them, the phone conversation kept me distracted and before I knew it I had been walking for forty five minutes straight. Plus drinking lots of water helped flush things out. It's funny how doctors and nurses deal with these things all the time so it's no big deal but for us it's the uncertainty that is so scary. We don't know what's serious and what's not.
Best of luck to you and your husband. Remember, as they say, "This too shall pass"...(literally)
Take care, CJ

Lovekitties

Dear mamalea
I had the same surgery as your husband, plus some, and including the UT problem after the fact.

I have had no lasting problems with things passing. You might check with his doctor to see if it would be ok to take a stool softener. It is not as harsh as a laxative and seems to help make things work easier.

Once I did over do on some binding foods and used just a small amount of citrus nitrate (an over the counter laxitive drink). It got things moving again.

I have also found that laying on my left side lets gravity help to move things toward the stoma.

Please make sure you check with his doctor before using anything over the counter.

By the way, he was probably given antibiotics for the UT infection. Those can cause things to bind up as well.

Praying that he gets relief soon and all will be well.

Hugs,

Marie who loves kitties