I will be having a laproscopic colectomy/ileorectal anastomosis next Wed. I need some help

I am new to all of this and have a lot of questions and need to hear from someone who has actually had this surgery. I need to know what to expect. I am having this in Bham. Has anyone out there been through this. I have been diagnosed with colonic inertia for several years. I am 35 years old and very weak and tired at the moment. Will I ever get my strength back!

I will be having a Laproscopic abdominal colectomy with ileorectal anastomosis. In short, they will be removing the large intestine and connecting the small intestine to the rectal tissues. Do you know anything about it?

I appreciate that. What surgery have you had?

How are you doing now? How has the surgery affected your quality of life? They keep telling me mine will improve. Have you lost weight and are you weak and tired?

Hi Hisgal and welcome,

I had a subtotal last July.  My surgery was open and I have about 2 in of my colon left. My surgery was extremely successful as my quality of life has never been better.  I went from having pellet like bms once every 2 weeks if I was lucky and that was with a lot of meds to having 2-3 bms daily.  I started with 20+ bms following surgery but they slowly tapered as the months went on.  I never lost control of my bms and was able to return to work full-time 6 weeks after my surgery.

I lost12 lbs following my surgery and haven't put it back on.  I continue to follow the low residue diet that you have to follow right after you have the surgery because if I eat fresh fruits or veggies I get severe diarrhea.  I tried taking imodium to  slow things down but that stopped the bms altogether so that's why I continue on the diet.

I have many people and even other drs of mine tell me how healthy I look; this was the first winter that I did not get a sinus infection or even a cold!  It did take a long time to regain my strength but then again this is a major operation.

Once you have this done you won't believe how bad you really felt; I was amazed that I looked that bad and felt that bad until afterward when I had energy to do things; beforehand I was always exhausted and weak.

I wish you the very best and will gladly answer any more questions you may have.

Judy

I have an appointment on 12/18 to meet with a surgeon to have the laparoscopic colectomy with ileorectal anastomosis surgery as well. I am 31 years old. Have you had your surgery yet?

I really am scared but at the same time I am ready. I am so happy to hear so many success stories and honest stories too of some of the not so fun things you have to face. I feel that all these years of suffering will finally be over if I move forward with this. I know it won't be a fun process but once it's over with I am hoping I will be living a more normal life. I am happy to hear that you can control your BM's too. When you hear people saying they go so much and its watery etc. It makes you feel like I will be RUNNING to the bathroom 10 - 20 times a day after surgery. And the thing that does stink for me is after I am released from the hospital I have a 7 hour ride home from the Mayo Clinic.

Anyone have the Laproscopic abdominal colectomy with ileorectal anastomosis and still able to take birth control?? I am concerned with not having the large intestine it won't work anymore.

This is pretty much my story summed up on my inspire.com profile page.

•www.inspire.com/ng1031
•31 years old, Female, Married


I have been dealing with "undiagnosed" digestive issues since I was about 25. I have spent a majority of my 20's and now the beginning of my 30's suffering and living a life controlled by chronic constipation and all that comes with it (for up to 2 weeks or longer), nausea, noticeable and uncomfortable bloating (look pregnant/clothes not fitting), painful gas pains and stomach cramping, chest pains and girggling/trapped air in chest (unable to burp), weight gain, and increased stress levels. It has ruined events and vacations, my attendance at work, my self-esteem, and even how much sleep I get at night. I was getting more doctor bills and no answers.

After 8 doctors and 14 procedures/tests/xrays, diet changes, physical therapy and trials of medications I have been told I "could have"...
*SIBO
*IBS-C
*Tortuous Colon
*Colonic inertia
*Small/normal sized anterior rectocele

I was diagnosed only with *Weak peristaltic function of the esophagus.

One Colon Rectal Surgeon gave me his opinion as:
I believe that we have established that your colon motility is markedly abnormal based on the results of your Sitz marker study. Evaluation of your small bowel motility was the 24 hr Sitz marker image – yours shows all the markers in you colon by that time, as would be expected with normal small bowel motility. The evaluation that you have had was appropriate and thorough to rule out pelvic floor/neurologic abnormalities that can be the primary source of abnormal colonic transit, such as short segment Hirschsprung’s disease, a large rectocele, or pelvic dyssynergia. Although you have a small rectocele, I agree that this is not the source of your problem. The other tests results (positive rectal anal inhibitory reflex, adequate balloon expulsion test, normal defecography) have essentially ruled out these other causes of constipation.

I was being told that total colectomy surgery was my answer by various doctors but some wanted to give me a temporary colostomy bag to test motility before doing the surgery. This made me weary as I was always under the impression that surgery was to fix things not diagnose things. Another colon surgeon told me that was not necessary based on my test results (I soon learned later that he was correct). I was stressed on the edge of deciding if I should move forward with surgery why doctors kept giving me mixed messages but with no exact answer of a diagnosis. At one point one doctor even told me there was NO surgery for my condition and that I just have to live with it. I was hitting dead end after dead end with doctors. Looking for feedback from others suffering with motility disorders I found this site. I kept asking my Mom to send me a sign on what I should do. Pull some strings in heaven for me.

Then I found http://www.inspire.com/groups/agmd-gi-motility/ and got a response from strongerthanit who told me about a doctor that could give me the answers I needed and specializes in cases like mine. I listened to what she told me and sent my story to Dr. Camilleri at the Mayo Clinic in MN. He got me in and I have since seen him and have had a full 48 hour slow transit study, an EKG, more blood work and a colonic manometry. Based on my medical records and their findings I have answers. My right side of my large intestine is slow and backing up into my small intestine which shows the pacemaker cells on that side are not working. My colon is VERY long, loopy and tortuous. There is still some contraction going on in my colon when given a meal and when given iv medication so I was put on a one month trial of Resolor but my body did not react positively to it. Because of that I will be scheduling my laparoscopic colectomy with ileorectal anastomosis surgery at the Mayo Clinic and Dr. Camilleri has now referred me to Dr. Cima who is the colon surgeon he feels is best for my condition. I am a good candidate for a successful surgery because my pelvic floor and rectum muscles are still working and are strong. I am happy to know that everything has been checked out before moving forward with surgery to avoid as many complications as possible. I also learned that IBS and SIBO symptoms I am having are due to the issues with the colon and are not a seperate issue as I have been told by other doctors.

It won't affect your birth control. All nutrients and medications are absorbed in your small intestine, so you'll be fine. I had both colon and rectum removed (entire large intestine) and have had no issues with my BC or any other meds. Just make sure you don't take any that say "extended release".

That is good to know. Someone told me they had to be put on liquid vitamins as they were not being absorbed and that made me concerned about my birth control.

My surgery was a year ago,and while I still have some problems, I have nothing like I did prior to surgery.. Everyone here has pretty much covered all the basis for you, so you should know what to expect.
THe only thing I wish I had done was to ask my surgeon to illustrate for me what everything would look like.
and if they offer you an epidural for surgery TAKE IT.. it is a painful surgery, and an epidural for a couple of days helps a lot.. then you feel more motivated to get up and walk.
Good luck :)

Why do people say psuedo Hirschprung's. Nothing darn pseudo about it. This disease makes itself as clear as daylight. I had chronic constipation since infancy. Evidentally, i faked this all through my childhood. Never had surgery. I have had enemas throughout my childhood. Now i am petrified of enemas and cannot stand if i glance over in a pharmacy and accidentally see one. In 1985, finally a gastro who took me seriously, he did place me on Senokot-S and i do take it. It has help tremendously. Why was this disease not diagnosed when i was an infant? Did these doctors not know that Dr. Hirschprung discover this disease in the 1800s or were these doctors too busy worrying about the next animal they were going to vivisect on. Yes, i love animals; but i do have this disease on top of another disease called Cushing's. I was born addicted to corticosteroids. I cannot make this up-SYFY could not come up with this. I had something pseudo, thanks to the Cushing's, which was pseudo pregnancy symptons. Instead of anyone taking this conditions seriously, i was bullied and send to psychiatrist. Nothing pseudo about Hirschprung's and Cushing's. This is probably why i am anti-vivsecting, cannot stand to see anyone or any animal suffer.