New here, didn't know where to post exactly....
I am a 41 yr old woman who underwent a total colectomy (via scope) with ileorectal anastomosis. I was in the hospital for a week and the first few days lost a lot of blood, but they watched my levels and they started to come back up before they had to give me blood. I will say the pain from the gas trapped after surgery is something they don't warn you about. It is the worst pain I have ever had in my life. Walking and moving around helped more then anything!!!!! I can't stress that enough. I had to stay kinda still when the bleeding was occuring but that passed as well. I went from going one every 7-10 days ONLY after taking something to go. My body on its own only went about every 10 days. Colonic inertia was my final diagnosis. With my job it makes it difficult to travel and be normal. My days off consisted of (potty days as my hubby calls them) then you are exhausted from all that, sick from laxatives. BAD BAD cycle but one does what they have to do to stimulate the system to go. I tried every pill, potion, diet, foods, exercise programs, accupuncture, chiropractic, and lastly I exhausted my options with bio-feedback. I flew to the Mayo Clinic in Cleveland to undergo that. I opted against surgery for years because of my fear of a colostomy bag. In 2007, it was detected I had a severe rectocele, had that repaired (never have had children so that wasn't the cause) then 6 months later the mesh patch started to erode and the permanent stitches started coming thru the skins surface. So I had to go back into the OR because of the area the stitches were it couldn't be done in the office. They clipped them and still they are finding their way thru again ( or so hubby tells me, I would never know..... ha ha he said "did we pay extra for the french ticklers?") My dr got a kick out of that one.......
I have spent the last year contemplating what to do and my husband had emergency surgery for a perianal abcess. The dr on call that did his surgery I fell in love with and talked to him about my situation and he assured me he could fix it without a colostomy bag. So I started that process and as of July 8th, 2008 I had the surgery and couldn't be happier with the success of it. I went from going once every 7-10 days to several times a day. Right after surgery I was going 15-25 times a day and all liquid. I stayed with the soft foods for about 2 weeks and then from then on I have eaten what I wanted. It was like I woke up one day and started regularly going 3-5 times a day with a soft consistancy. It will never be hard stool becuase the colon is what absorbed all the water from the stool. I have the "feeling" once and awhile if I haven't gone but a few times in the day that "I need to take a pill to go (or in my case it was several) but those feelings are beginning to pass. It has been a little over 2 months and I just started within the past 3 weeks to feel no pain and cleared to do whatever I want, lift what I want, no restrictions what so ever! My incision is still a little tender but I didn't feel much pain there until about a month out and when it started healing more inside etc it would knot up and hurt quite a bit. The bad part after surgery like I said was the gas pain trapped inside. NO pain pills helped with that or shots or injections. It is something that just had to pass. Before surgery the only medications I was taking was thyroid and HFT (pills not the patch or creams) and never thought twice about what kinds of medications were absorbed in the colon and what were not. I basically spent over a month without any medications and was very emotional, totally exhausted. Both the meds listed were absorbed int he colon. Anything coated, time released just goes right thru you with no colon. Some break down in the stomach but full absorbtion isn't until the colon. Vitamins had to be changed to gel or liquid and I switched to the hormone patch and my thyroid was increased to account for the part that I don't absorb. Things are working out but I feel like I am starting from square one with those two which had been controlled and consistant for 11 years. I don't have problems with hemmroids any longer which is great! I could NEVER EVER eat refried beans before because the gas would get trapped so bad I would be completely miserable for days! now I eat a can of beans for lunch quite often and have very little problem with gas, the same with peanut butter I couldn't eat before now I can. You learn now which foods go thru you quicker but it is a learning process after that. My surgeon did say he removed one of the longest colons he had ever seen from me so I guess that is my claim to fame! ha ha Since the biopsy that was ran on it after removal he did say I tested positive for mixed cells in many many places, which could have been problematic later on. NO more colonoscopy any longer! thank GOD because I had to drink over a gallon of that crap and prepare for two days. Before surgery I wasn't able to eat for two and half days, surgery was at 1:00 pm lasted 5 hours because I had a great deal of adheasions from my hystrectomy scar, the colon was fused to it. So no food for 2 days after surgery, then I finally got ice chips the 3rd day and then some water and liquids. I never knew how much I looked forward to sucking ice water out of a washcloth! Then ice chips were like Heaven! ha ha Finally the scrambled eggs I never looked forward to before were looking like Heaven as well....
All in all things are pretty normal now. Sometimes I catch myself getting in a bind when I wait to go and the longer you wait and hold it without a colon the more watery it gets so remember that.......I never thought I would have to learn where the public restrooms were but now I know where they all are in my small town....
Good luck and if anyone has any questions I would be happy to help in any way.
Best of luck to you all,
Lori