Time for a Bowel Resection

Hey everyone, it's been ages since I've posted. Colitis has been ok, still bleeding and still dealing with my constant iron deficiency nemesis. Over the last few months I've had 12 iron infusions. I was tested about a month ago after my last infusion and my ferritin was 75 which was the highest it's been in ages. I've had one Surgical consultation back in Jan and my GI and Surgeon recommend removing the section of my colon where all my Giant Pseudopolyps are. They feel they are constantly bleeding which is always draining my iron. I had my iron checked last week and my ferritin is down to 39. Saturation and other aspects have dropped by half as well. In exactly one month that's how far it's dropped. It's still in normal ranges but it's going to keep on dropping like usual. I think it's finally time to pull the trigger and have that section removed. My hemoglobin is good at 15 and from what I understand, your body will drain it's iron stores before the iron in your hemoglobin and that's why it's not dropping (I may be wrong). As of now it will be done laparoscopicly. Has anyone had a large bowel resegment? Any suggestions?

Also, my surgeon is Dr. Eric Weiss at the Cleveland Clinic in Florida, does anyone have experience with him? Just from my initial meeting I feel very comfortable with him. He's rated as one of the best surgeons in the united states. Any information you have will be appreciated.

This will be my first major surgery so I'm not sure what to expect.

Thanks
Gordon

the area of concern is in my descending portion of my colon and covers about 6-8cm. That's the only area that the Giant polyps are present. My last scope in october of last year showed the rest of my colon clear. My rectum was clear during that scope as well. I know he wants to do a sigmoidoscopy in his office to look for himself. I've never had one of those either. If I don't do something this cycle is probably going to continue. I also have to weigh the possible cancer risk as they can't tell what are true polyps there's so many and some are huge

I just had to research what an adhesion was and it appears that 90% of patients will experience an adhesion of some sort but most won't require any further treatment to deal with it. It seems that it can cause the bowel to twist and in turn cause a blockage, is that what you experienced? It can also cause problems many years down the road after the surgery. I'll ask the surgeon about it tomorrow. It looks like the percentage is much lower when done laparascopicly.

I have my list ready to go. I know I'll have to do a clean out and I would much prefer to do it at home than an office enema o_O

I'll also ask him if he wants my GI to do a full scope as well prior to for updated pics. I'm glad he wants to do the sig so he can see first hand what he's dealing with so there are no surprises when he opens me up

My SO has Crohn's colitis and had a resection a few years ago. Will yours be performed laparoscopically? IF that's an option for the kind of resection you would need, I would definitely push for it -- it's infinitely less painful to have only laparoscopic incisions.

Anyway, he had a very easy surgery and recovery and was back to normal within a few weeks.

I guess my only question is why they're recommending a resection instead of a total colectomy -- I've only ever heard of UCers getting total colectomies for dysplasia or polyps, but I guess if the polyps are totally benign, just large, it's a different story.

well I've always been told I have UC. If I remember right from my last Surgical consultation, he looked at all my pathology slides with his team and feels I may have Crohn's Colitis and only wants to remove just the section. There was a slight issue with the illeium and I've done a few tests to check for Chron's disease. He as well as my GI (who presented my case at a convention) all feel removing the section is the correct way to resolve the issue. He said they'll have that section of my colon to study as well once it's out to really determine what I'm dealing with.

I met with the Surgeon again today and I'm going to schedule my surgery tomorrow when the Pre Op nurse calls me back. We still feel this is the best possible way to approach my issue. When I'm admitted to the hospital, that day they will do the sigmoidoscopy so he can get a closer look. the day after will be the surgery itself so this way I only have to clean myself out once. The scope is to check my rectum to make sure there is enough of a healthy area to join my colon when the segment is taken out.

surgery is complete. He removed about 40cm of the left side of my colon. Quite a bit of pain right now especially now that it feels like my colon is waking up again. Morphine isn't even helping

omg Gordon, I can't believe I missed this thread twice! :-O
I apologise!

Good to hear your surgery is done. 40 cms..so that was from the top of the rectum to the descending colon...complete sigmoid?

At least you won't have to heal from a huge incision, only the surgery scope incisions.

I hope you recover smoothly, and hopefully your iron levels will rise after your colon starts functioning again.

When will you be getting the results from pathology?

Hope nothing was wonky except for the giant polyps themselves.

Healing thoughts sent your way!
q

quincy said...
omg Gordon, I can't believe I missed this thread twice! :-O
I apologise!

Good to hear your surgery is done. 40 cms..so that was from the top of the rectum to the descending colon...complete sigmoid?At least you won't have to heal from a huge incision, only the surgery scope incisions.

I hope you recover smoothly, and hopefully your iron levels will rise after your colon starts functioning again.

When will you be getting the results from pathology?

Hope nothing was wonky except for the giant polyps themselves.

Healing thoughts sent your way!
q

I have very little sigmoid colon left above my rectum, they did remove my entire left side otherwise. Pain sucks right now as my colon is waking up, I'm pretty bloated as well. The gas us horrendous pain. Not sure about the pathology but my surgeons team has it. We now have a good piece to study to maybe tell me one hundred percent what i have. The rest if my colon has always been clear so I'm curious when or if the disease will attack the rest

my colon seems to be waking up nicely. lots of bowel noises and have been able to pass some of the gas, I just cant squeeze to pass it as it hurts my incisions. I passed a little diarrhea this morning but couldnt sit doing it as it hurt like holy hell to try and squeeze, I kind of had to be more vertical. They took the bladder cathiter out and I'm peeing fine, My diet is getting upgraded to full liquid today...cream of wheat type foods.

Post Edited (blksteeda) : 8/24/2013 11:00:12 AM (GMT-6)

yeah I'm supposed to do 5 laps a day, I've done 3 so far. Every step shoots right to my incisions. I still have my pain pump and getting a Toradal injection every 6 hours. They're supposed to switch to oral pain meds tomorrow. Tonight my food is upgraded, tomato soup, ice cream, chocolate milk, hot tea and juice.

Hey everyone. What when from a simple procedure turned into a nightmare. I had the surgery on the 23rd and all seemed to go well. By this past Monday, my abdominal pain was so severe I don't even know how to describe it. What turns out that happened is the joined sections opened up and flooded my abdomen with bacterica causing a brutal infection. The pain is nothing I've ever felt in my life. They had to do a quick CT scan (with me screaming in pain) to check. Laying flat on that scanner was torture. I was rushed into surgery and had my bowel cleaned out and given a temp ostomy while the sections are given time to heal. Upon waking on the monday from surgery, I had the NG tube down my throat which was just removed this morning (6 days later). I do not wish that thing on anyone. All I felt was that tube in my throat like sandpaper. Causing horrible gag reflexes. I was pumping out about a liter or more of bile a day. The tube kept me from puking it. I'm actually feeling decent today, still some pain at the surgery site, body is swollen bad with fluid and bruised. I'm about to get clear liquids for the first time. In about 2-3 months the takedown surgery will be performed and hope all goes well. Till then, lots of healing and learning.