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Reversal surgery and small bowel obstruction

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Posted 4/12/2008 10:44 PM (GMT 0)
My dad had reversal surgery on February 7, he's now back in the hospital with a small bowel obstruction....and we're hoping that an NG tube will allow the pressure to be taken off the bowel and things will start working.  Any helpful advice, thoughts, eperience will be appreciated.  Thanks in advance for your help...you all are an amazing group of people and I thank you for your willingness to share your experiences.
Posted 4/12/2008 11:10 PM (GMT 0)
Jetta,
I'm so sorry your dad is having to go through this. sad I know all too well what he is going through, because I went into the hospital on March 12th with a small bowel obstruction.

Mine was caused by scar tissue from my proctocolectomy surgery a year and a half ago. I also had an NG tube in, which was no fun. We waited a week to see if it would correct itself, but mine didn't, so I had to have surgery to fix it.

When the surgeon went in, she said that the scar tissue had completely strangled about 1/2" of my small intestine, and there was no way it was going to open up on its own. Once the surgery was done, I was able to start introducing liquids and soft foods again. It was great to be able to eat and drink again after not being able to for 11 days!

I hope his small bowel opens up on its own and that he does not have to have surgery, but if he does, it will be okay. It takes just a few weeks to recover from it. My surgeon wanted to do the surgery laparoscopically, which would have been a shorter recovery time, but ended up having to make a larger incision.

My advice to him would be to hang in there and try to stay positive. It's very frustrating to not be able to eat or drink while waiting for things to open up. Bring him some hard candies to suck on and tell him that it's okay to ask the nurse for some ice water to rinse his mouth out with. Even if he swallows a little, the NG tube will suck it right back out. It feels so good to have some cold water in your mouth and the flavor of butterscotch (or whatever flavor he likes) as a snack. :-)

I hope that helps, and please keep us posted on how he's doing.

Cecilia
Posted 4/13/2008 12:48 AM (GMT 0)
Thanks for responding, I knew that someone had recently gone through a similiar situation on here! I'm so hoping that he doesn't need surgery, his first in August 07 was a 32 day stay in the hospital, 24 inches of colon removed and ileostomy, his stomach took a LONG time to wake up, the second was in February, the ileostomy herniated and was pushing his intestine out 4 inches...so they reconnected him and he spent 12 days waiting for his stomach to "come back to life", he's really just getting adjusted to his "new" bowels, only to end up with this obstruction. This afternoon was our first experience with a sneezing episode and an NG tube, NOT FUN. He has called tonight and told my mother that he's feeling some gurgling and a little cramping...so hopefully tomorrow will be a "break through" day. He's so incredibly patient. Thanks for your advice on the hard candies, he was sucking on ice chips and his mouth was absorbing the liquid quickly, he was terribly dehydrated.

I so appreciate you sharing your experience. Thanks and stay well.
Posted 4/13/2008 1:36 AM (GMT 0)
lets see where do I begin. I had emergency resection then ileus (colon didnt wake up so 1 week later emergency ostomy. I had that reversed in June 07. Unfortunatley my Crohn's returned within a month but the docs thought my pain was healing then my joints began acting up and while waiting for humira to get approved and being on 2 preventative meds (pentasa and entocort) I found a fistula came through the scar area. I have had complications with each Sx. I had to have the fistula removed surgically on Jan 11. Well I passed stool 2 times so they began to feed me even though I had not passed any gas. I was getting more nauseaus by the meal and I was hardly eating anything. after not passing stool for 3 days after the initial time I went I got the lovely NG tube. When I had it with my ostomy Sx I woke up with it this time I was awake and not happy but it was better than the alternative.

One of my colorectal surgeons assoc was on call over the weekend and he wanted to pull the tube I said no I rather keep it in a little longer than have to have that thing placed again while I am awake. Good thing I made him keep it that night I had a CT scan and I had ileus again so nothing was going through. I am going many times a day now. Unfortunatly again the CD returned within a month and I was unable to do humira soon after since i had a wound infection again
Posted 4/14/2008 9:21 PM (GMT 0)
Jetta,
Wow, your dad sure has been through a lot! He sounds like a very sweet, patient man. I hope he doesn't need another surgery either. When I first got my ileostomy, it took 10 days to start working, so I know how frustrating that can be. I must say, that once the surgeon fixed this most recent obstruction, my ileo started working within hours, which was a blessing.

You mentioned that he was dehydrated. Are they giving him enough IV fluids? I hope so. They can increase the speed at which it runs to give him more, if he needs it. When you're dehydrated, your veins shrink down making it hard to draw blood and find an acceptable IV site.

I was dehydrated, too, and after getting stuck too many times with needles, I requested a PICC line. In case you don't know what one is, a PICC line is an IV that goes in your upper arm. It has a long, thin, plastic tube that connects to a large vein in your neck. The PICC has several ports on the end that a nurse can use to draw blood, as well as give fluids, meds, and TPN (total nutrition). If he had one, it would prevent him from having to get stuck with needles several times a day.

I hope he's doing well, and please keep us updated.

Cecilia
Posted 4/15/2008 12:11 AM (GMT 0)
Cecilia,

He is a wonderful man and it's very hard to see him go thru this. He's getting IV fluids and the dehydration issue is okay since we went to the hospital, we're still waiting for things to "break loose". We go one step forward and 2 steps backward....he sneezed the other day, that's not good with an NG tube, and I thought it had gotten moved, but the nurses insisted it hadn't. That night he had a bad night, belching, tasting bile etc. When Mom and I got to the hospital they had clamped the tube because nothing was coming out....well, one of his Dr's arrived and I mentioned the sneeze issue and he immediately recoginzed that tube was not in where it was supposed to be and placed it properly, within 2 hrs. he had put out 800 ml. of fluid...so we "wasted" a bit of time. It's so hard to have a loved one in the hospital. We spend the whole day with him, but have to leave at night. Today was a better day, the NG worked properly last night and all day today, we spent lots of time walking and he's in incredibly good spirits considering how much he does not want to be in the hospital....we're hoping for some progress tonight and tomorrow. Thanks for your thoughts.

Martha
Posted 4/16/2008 10:34 AM (GMT 0)
We had a "break thru" bowel movement yesterday, so hopefully we will be coming home soon.  It's been tough keeping the NG tube working properly, I told someone yesterday I thought they should do an NG tube inservice training...my patience is running thin, but when that NG needs to be working properly to achieve the result we need...I think it's sort of important.  Thanks for your thoughts and support, maybe we will come home today!:)

Posted 4/17/2008 1:36 AM (GMT 0)
i hope you do get to come home soon! and even if you don't i hope it continues to get better.
Posted 4/17/2008 10:47 PM (GMT 0)
Thanks for your thoughts, Dad came home today. I hope we don't have to go through that again in the very near future or ever!
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