Total Colectomy Death Rates

I had a total colectomy in November 2013 due to numerous pre-cancerous polyps and constant constipation. The constipation is mainly due to a spinal cord injury as (after 7 back surgeries) I have cauda equina syndrome. But back on topic, my wife had to have a total colectomy as well as her polyps were malignant. They got all the cancer they believe. She developed complications after just over 2 weeks, had an emergency surgery, then suffered several massive strokes in SICU. The initial surgery was 12/19/13 and she passed away in the hospital 1/22/14. She was only 59 years old. Is this very common? Does anyone know the percentage rate of death following this procedure? I myself am doing OK, except for the loss of my wife. We had been married over 36 years.

Post Edited (jmraper) : 5/19/2014 3:50:59 PM (GMT-6)

I also had a heap of polyps, went in for j pouch surgery, due to complications I left hospital after I month and three surgeries with a permanent ileostomy, pneumonia, renal failure and sepsis...lucky to be alive ...so I guess there are a few close calls too

I am so sorry for your loss.a friend of mine died from complications in a laprascopic surgery and their family has been in a lawsuit for 3 years now. They had an autopsy done after the death that showed the doctors negligence. If they hadn't done the autopsy they wouldn't have known the doctor messed up.

The lawsuit has been a long an ongoing nightmAre for my friends family, having to re-live everything over and over again. You may feel better healing instead if ripping open the wound time and time again in a court room. Im glad you are feeling ok (as much as you can at a time like this).

DDD sucks! Haha. I have had it for a long time though and have learned to live with the pain. Although sometimes it is much worse than others. The surgery that I had to fix the herniated disk made me feel worlds better.

I hope all is well. God bless and good luck with everything.

I have had 7 herniated disk surgeries from DDD which left me with cuada equina syndrome. Other than lots of polyps I also had a terrible kink and constant constipation problems which is another reason they removed most of my colon. They left just enough so I would not have a colostomy bag. Most people with cuada euina syndrome suffer from bladder incontinence. I'm the opposite, which may be worse, I feel like my bladder is full 365 - 24/7. I cannot relax the muscle(s) to urinate and have to self catheter myself in order to urinate at all. It is the 24/7 urge to go and bladder spasms that drives you NUTS! I'm on toviaz 8mg to reduce the urge and every 3 months they shoot my bladder internally with botox. It sort of keeps it at one size and cuts down on the bladder spasms. The total colectomy did not help much with the constipation and sometimes I cannot tell if my bladder is full or if it is the other. I'm taking 30ml of lactulose 3 x day and Colace 2 x a day. It does help the constipation somewhat but I never know when it will hit me with "gotta go this second". I still have problems with constipation as well. I'm not going to sue the Dr. He was a good guy butt I'll not go back to him for emotional reasons.

May God bless and hope you feel better,
Joe

58 year old male - ;)

Joe-

My condolences to you and your family. What a loss, I'm sure everything was so surprising. You must be in shock and unsure as to what happened and what you need to do.

I feel into that 1% effectively. Well, I am alive, but the circumstances were extraordinary. I had a colectomy because of a unknown reason as to why I had severe diverticulosis throughout my entire colon. During my colectomy, my surgeon used both staples and sutures for the connection of small to rectum. 5 days later, he went on vacation and I started to have apparent issues showing a leakage. Well, the attending surgeon did nothing for 5 days. This left me in ICU for 2 weeks, 4 more surgeries, sepsis, blood clot by my liver, pneumonia, open ab incision, gall stones.....

I was told by many health care professionals, that my age (37) and not having an underlying condition is why I'm still here. 6 weeks, 50 lbs later, I came home to another fight of my life. Mentally and physically coping.

My body probably rejected a staple. I don't blame my surgeon for the staple or going on vacation. I blamed the attending surgeon because I could of handled slight sepsis and an ileostomy, but such neglect lead to the more extraneous issues.

In the end, I didn't sue. I didn't want to live in the past, as a long drawn out court battle would. I had to do what was best for me at the time. I deserved to move on, as did my children. Everyone around me told me I was nuts not to. I have regrets now being 4 years out.

I hope you come to some resolution with this. It's not easy and we are all here to listen and help!!!!

God Bless