Bowel Movements After Colon Surgery

[23Bruno]

"There aren't many people that will ever be the same after surgery...no matter what type it is...any invasion/alteration to your body will cause a person to know that it will not be the same again...because there has literally been a change..please learn to accept it...because this is something that you cannot UNdo..."

Thanks for your helpful post, Amy.  Can you elaborate on what you mean by "it will not be the same again"?  I am scheduled for removal of about 6 inches of my ascending colon, because of a small adenoma located there, on March 11.  My main concern is that after all the healing my bowel movements will not return to normal.  Both my surgeon and my GI doc say I will never know the difference and that I will have no dietary restrictions.  I have high respect for both of these doctors, but when I see posts like yours, I wonder.

[Morecambe]

Colon surgery is a major operation and I felt somewhat tired for a couple of months but after that life returned to normal and I was back on the tennis court etc etc.

regards
Morecambe

[jdwithhcv]

It took some time to recover from the surgery, radiation and chemotherapy, but I made a good recovery with no lasting ill effects except one or two little problems that are related to the chemo drugs.

jd

[23Bruno]

Thanks for your replies.  Normality of bowel movements aside, have you experienced or are you aware of other changes post-surgery?  E.g., fatigue, or anything else?

Thanks again,
23bruno

[jdwithhcv]

It can take some time for things to return to normal after surgery, and "normal" may evolve into something a bit different to what it was pre-op.  But, as Morecambe said, this is nothing compared to the drama that will ensue if you let the adenoma go untreated.

Best of luck.
jd

[Morecambe]

Hi - I underwent colon surgery about five years ago (in response to another Medhelp patient's question I posted my experiences on:-

http://www.medhelp.org/posts/show/523166)

and I think I can say that my life has returned to normal.  Bowel movements were initially more frequent but settled down to reasonable levels a few months after surgery.

I suppose it is all a matter of degree.  Even if you notice some changes after your surgery hopefully these will be of a minor nature and not nearly as dramatic as the changes that would ultimately occur if a colonic adenoma is allowed to develop untreated?

regards
Morecambe