What can one expect after lower rectal surgery if they did NOT have a colostomy?

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musiclover
musiclover Member Posts: 242
edited March 2014 in Colorectal Cancer #1
In other words, does the surgery create lasting bowel problems even with a sphincter intact? I.e. pain, pressure, discomfort? I'm beginning to think the colostomy is a better deal from all the reading I'm doing. Has anyone come out of this surgery being able to use their bowels close to the way they did before? Thanks so much. I wish my friend had the internet. So far I've been printing out many letters from posters here and that has been very comforting to him.

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  • Moesimo
    Moesimo Member Posts: 1,072 Member
    #2
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    I had a temporary ileostomy and after it was reversed my sphincter worked poorly. I was left with lots of diarrhea, frequency, incontinence, and a very sore bottom.

    18 mos. later I had a colostomy and life is better. My bottom appreciates my tough decision.

    I had alot of damage from radiation.

    Moe
  • markatger
    markatger Member Posts: 314
    #3
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    Hi,

    I'm kind of in the middle of this treatment. I still have my temporary ileostomy.. I had a most of my rectum romoved and several inches of my descending colon. Then then puuled down the end of the colon and made a J Pouch to serve as my new rectum. They also saved my sphicnter of course. I have around 2/3 of my colon remaining. I am under the impression that the more colon that remains intact, the better chance that of returning to normal bowel movements. I will have my ileoostmy reversed at the beginning of the year. My suregosn expect me to return to normal. We'll see though!

    I'm also going to be having surgery to fix some adhesions in my small instestines which is scar tissue that can kink and cause blockages (not fun).

    So after the first of the year I'll be in for a ride to see how well my guts are behaving!

    Cherry on top!...my gall bladder will be removed (they are also removing a 1/3 of my liver with a met in it) 3 for one surgery!

    That should be interesting living without a gall bladder...I should post about what that is like...although I've been told its not really noticeable.'

    Anyhoo....I'm ramblin....upshot is My 2 cents is yet to come on your question...I'm hoping that I can believe my surgeons when they speak of my returning to normalcy.

    Maria
  • cal79
    cal79 Member Posts: 57
    #4
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    What type of surgery is your friend going to have? If it is j-pouch surgery my surgeon thinks that the odds of success are very good. He also says that the younger you are and the stronger your pelvic floor muscles the better the outcome, therefore he expects me to have close to normal bowel function (I'm 26 and a pilates freak!). I can't comment yet as my ileostomy reversal is going to be done on Tuesday (gulp)! However, some people on this site who have had the surgery have almost normal bowel function. Even if your friend ends up with a stoma, it really isn't nearly as bad as you might think.

    Hope your friend is doing ok with all the stress and decisions he has to make at the moment.

    Cal :)
  • musiclover
    musiclover Member Posts: 242
    #5
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    cal79 said:

    What type of surgery is your friend going to have? If it is j-pouch surgery my surgeon thinks that the odds of success are very good. He also says that the younger you are and the stronger your pelvic floor muscles the better the outcome, therefore he expects me to have close to normal bowel function (I'm 26 and a pilates freak!). I can't comment yet as my ileostomy reversal is going to be done on Tuesday (gulp)! However, some people on this site who have had the surgery have almost normal bowel function. Even if your friend ends up with a stoma, it really isn't nearly as bad as you might think.

    Hope your friend is doing ok with all the stress and decisions he has to make at the moment.

    Cal :)

    Thanks to all for the answers. My friend is having radiation and Xeloda for 5 weeks then they will determine what type of surgery - in other words, whether he needs a colostomy or not. He has a great surgeon who will do the TME surgery. I don't know what a j-pouch is or an ileostomy - need to do more research. Thanks for the encouraging words and for sharing your stories.
  • musiclover
    musiclover Member Posts: 242
    #6
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    Moesimo said:

    I had a temporary ileostomy and after it was reversed my sphincter worked poorly. I was left with lots of diarrhea, frequency, incontinence, and a very sore bottom.

    18 mos. later I had a colostomy and life is better. My bottom appreciates my tough decision.

    I had alot of damage from radiation.

    Moe

    Moe Did they do too much radiation? What sort of damage do you have? One thing I had a gripe with when visiting the radiologist with my friend is the fact that they won't do any testing to see if a tumor has shrunk until the entire 5 weeks is up. What if there is enough shrinkage of the tumor to stop the radiation before the 5 weeks? They won't know if there is no MRI/CT scan done before the 5 week point. If there is significant shrinkage, it seems so wrong to continue the radiation. I'm going to put a post up to see other's thoughts on this. Thanks so much for your input.
  • Moesimo
    Moesimo Member Posts: 1,072 Member
    #7
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    musiclover said:

    Moe Did they do too much radiation? What sort of damage do you have? One thing I had a gripe with when visiting the radiologist with my friend is the fact that they won't do any testing to see if a tumor has shrunk until the entire 5 weeks is up. What if there is enough shrinkage of the tumor to stop the radiation before the 5 weeks? They won't know if there is no MRI/CT scan done before the 5 week point. If there is significant shrinkage, it seems so wrong to continue the radiation. I'm going to put a post up to see other's thoughts on this. Thanks so much for your input.

    I think that 5 weeks is standard for radiation. In addition to shrinking the tumor, it is supposed to help decrease the chance of the cancer coming back.

    I have damage from radiation because there are areas that were radiated because they were in the path of radiation. They think that there were loops of small bowel that were in the path and that is the cause for my small obstructions.

    Moe

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