how much is too much (sigmoid colon resection)

Yawa....I had10.5" (30 cm = 11.8"of my sigmoid colon resected in Dec of last year. I had a few complicatìons along the way including one emergency surgery less that a week after the first one. It ended with a stoma and bag. That lasted 8 weeks then they took the bag down. Had a blockage after that and had to go back in the hospital for five days. That passed but had another one and it resulted in another emergency surgery and the loss of my eliocecle valve. I still have bouts with diarrhea and am now lactose intolerant but all in all I'm doing very well. If I see something I like i like it. Sometimes it works out OK something's it doesn't. Trial and error. I guess what Im trying say is I lost almost that much and I'm doing very well considering all of the surgeries. Im not restricted in my diet though not everything agrees with me. I usually wait a few days or weeks then try again if it's something I really like. She will be fine with though love And support. I hear all sorts of success stories with just the resection so she will be one as well. Good luck and God speed. Let me know how she does. Will be here anytime you need me.

I hope i can help you with this --Having had an emergeny operation for the same when i became ill at home (sepsis is the killer ) If im reading and understanding your story correctly your wife hasnt a stoma !! ,your wife will be fine with the removal of the affected bowel .What will become apperent is that her Poo will be a little looser but perfectly controlable ( less bowel means less liquid passes through bowel wall to hydrate the body ,un-noticable really ) ----Post op is another story ---These types of operations are NOT key hole so there will be a fair sized scar to heal ,which in my case turned into a large incisional hernia ( told this is quite common ) second the bowel isnt happy to be messed with and can take a while to restart , ---Diet well for me 4 years later drink beer and whisky like billy the fish and eat like a horse ..ALL WILL BE WELL ----(  Dont delay , otherwise diverticulitus will return and it can kill you ,im told i will never suffer it again as it only "normally " affects the area removed !!

Where are you ?   your Hospital should have a web page on the procedure !!??

Thank you LucyB and B'hamfan for your explanations and kind words.

No, she does not have a stoma at present.  The complication I mentioned was a largish abscess (ca. 5X5X8 cm) forming over the prior perforation site.

They took her in to insert a drain, but by the time the interventional radiology doc got her under the CT scan again to place the drain, they found the abscess had already drained - into her bladder.  She's now got a fistula connecting the abscess and the bladder, so that will have to be repaired as well.

I'm very glad to hear that for both of you, although the road may have been rocky at times, can now go along with your lives in essentially normal fashion!

Stories like yours will be very important for her to learn because she's pretty anxious about the whole thing, and concerned for her future.

Thank you again.

Hi, to update you on my wife's condition and surgical outcomes.

The surgery itself turned out to be more complex than contemplated due to significant amounts of tissue adhesion between the colon and bladder, and the fistula was much larger (about 3-inch diam) than expected.  So they could not do via 'scope as originally intended, and had to open her up.

Luckily, though, they were able to get all the diseased colon out and repair the bladder, and sacrificed some tissue from somewhere else in there to make a shield between the remainder of the colon and the bladder to hopefully avoid more adhesion.

After about 9 days in-hosp post-surgical she was well enough to come home (total I think 25 days in-hosp with initial flare up, the abscess causing the fistula, and then the post-op stay).  Continued convalescing here at home another 6 or 7 weeks and was finally cleared to return to work.  All told, she was out of work almost 4 months, and lost almost 40 pounds because of the wait between the second flare-up and the surgery was liquid-only diet the whole time.

She is now doing very well and back to a regular diet, except for eating a lot more fiber than she used to, mostly in the form of avocados which luckily she and our daughters really like.  

So I've got the daughters eating them a lot, too, because their bowel habits are very similar to what my wife's were - only going about twice a week and then passing a large, hard stool (apparently genetic as my wife's mother and grandmother were the same).  I am good with a plunger, I'll tell ya.

So I'm a bit concerned their bowel habits might contribute to likelihood of DD down the road for them.  However, it could be just coincidental given neither of my wife's mom or grandmom had DD.

Thanks all!