Scheduled surgery

I saw my surgeon today and scheduled surgery for Dec 5. I've been having bowel obstructions, and now it seems very likely that it's a mechanical issue -- probably an adhesion, but also possibly a twisted bowel or a hernia -- can't tell any more from the various tests.

She's very optimistic, however, that she'll be able to fix it. The fix will depend on what it is. If it's adhesions, she'll lyse (cut) them. The twist would probably result in a stoma revision, she said cutting out 15 cm of bowel and hopefully using the same hole. A hernia would require moving my stoma to the other side.

She said she'd make a video to show me of what's going on (I found this part kind of exciting).

She says three days in the hospital and then four weeks recovery (but I might feel ready to start doing things after two or three weeks)

The part that's upsetting is she's moving out of town at the end of the year.... just found that out....

Hoping I made the right decision to schedule after Thanksgiving.... mostly I didn't do it earlier because of my job. I teach, and this will have me miss the last two weeks of the semester (I have subs lined up).... if I did it now it'd be missing almost half the semester.... but right now I am basically eating no fiber to try to avoid another obstruction. It's not the worst thing in the world, but I don't like it .....

Has anyone here had surgery because of any of the things I mentioned?

Hi, Blueheron, great to hear from you! How are you doing? I'm always happy to see your articles in the Phoenix (and I think, I "knew" her back then.....)

My surgeon was pretty funny.... she gave me three names of other surgeons (one at her hospital and two at the hospital my gi moved to; since he moved, thought maybe I should just get a surgeon there).... when I asked who among those she recommended most, without hesitation she labelled them 1, 2, 3, and told me why.... the one she called #1 was the one at her hospital, and she said that that surgeon is more direct/brash than she is, which my partner and I had a good laugh about this morning, cause she's not exactly nuanced and subtle.... (at the previous appt she said she had to leave because she had two other people with "butts in the air")

NCOT, I had a small bowel follow through -- that was kind of a cool test; I'd never had it before. NPO after midnight, then drinking some barium contrast (nasty, but only one cup) then walk around a while, and then they did this x ray kind of thing where my small bowel looked like this undulating, segmented sea snake (never realized it moved around so much). In any case, that's the test that diagnosed the narrow area. My surgeon said it's the best one for this type of thing (which may be different from your situation).

I then had the ileoscopy, which is also not that big a deal, to check for IBD symptoms, cancer, inflammation, strictures, etc... anything internal that could be causing the problem.... that was clean.

No one suggested MRI's. They always want to do CT scans in the ER.... I have been refusing when I can because I've had so many, and my obstructions have always cleared on their own within 12 hours. Are they doing an MRI instead of a CT? That would be good, probably get some of the same info without the radiation. On my CT's when blocked it hasn't been clear the exact cause.... they went back and forth between kink in the bowel and just food.... the small bowel follow through was clearer.

Partial blockages every day sounds horrible. Hope they can figure out what's going on for you and fix.

Wish someone could split the difference on the CT's.... they push me to have one maybe an hour after I get there....no patience....

I have gone extreme in my diet... basically not eating anything w/more than1 gm of fiber per serving.... actually more extreme than many of my ibd and post big surgery days. No clue if this will help, but I have made it almost 3 weeks w/out one so could be.....

I was a vegetarian for 25 years, started eating fish when I was really sick.... was nice after surgery when I went back to vegetarian but this week I started eating fish again.... is what it is....not even risking much peanut butter this time. Maybe it's overkill, but I'm off for two weeks after each ER trip and I just want to do what I can to avoid another (not convinced it'll work, but doing what I can....sigh).

The docs aren't very helpful on what to eat ... surgeon, "You know better than me." GI, "Conservative is a good strategy."

Getting a CT every time you go into ER sounds excessive. They should be able to tell if it's an obstruction from symptoms, listening to your bowels with a stethoscope, and previous history of obstructions.

Yeah, I've been there with the extreme diets =/ Was on a liquid diet for a month after one hospital stay. At other times I was on a semi-liquid diet. The drinks were Fortisips, a disgustingly sugary Ensure-type drink. They were medically prescribed. The solid part of the diet was low-residue.

I was stubborn for years before surgery and I'm being slightly stubborn again. Tbh, there are many days when I wish I didn't have to eat: that I could just take a pill and be done with it. But physical hunger always wins out eventually - not eating simply isn't a viable solution, so if you have to, make up the calories with liquids. Stating the obvious really, but you can make smooth soups and smoothies in a blender.

A month's wait isn't too bad, especially as 2 weeks have already passed. Okay, I'd better go to bed now... it's incredibly late here >.>