What problems can my sister expect as a result of her colon resection?

Enigma®Ragnarökin’: What problems can my sister expect as a result of her colon resection?
Yesterday my sister had surgery to remove her entire ascending and transverse colon to just below the splenic flexure due to cancer. She did get to keep her descending colon and the anastomosis went well. How will this affect her in her every day life? Any information would be appreciated.

Answers and Views:

Answer by Thin Kaboudit
Now she’ll recover & have to pay off her credit cards and bills, LOL!

(Sorry…that was the major impact on me when I beat my cancer. It’s a great problem to have had!)

To answer a little more seriously, the primary function of the large intestine is to remove most of the water from what is left over after food has been digested by the stomach, and nutrional components have been absorbed by the small intestine from the resultant “sludge”. So the main thing your sister will have to do is adjust her dietary intake (her oncologist will help her with this) to accommodate her post-operative self.

The anastomosis (sewing the two loose ends together) itself carries some risks, but they are an INFINITELY preferable option to that of carrying around a bag of poop for the rest of your days!

Statistically, it’s probable your sister will reach a point before too long when she (almost) forgets this even happened.

Best wishes!

Answer by heckenhocker
There quite likely will be no problems from the surgery (right hemicolectomy is I think the procedure name). Hubby had it done in January and has not had to adjust his diet at all However he does find he now needs to eat regularly – gets diarrahea if too long between meals.

Side effects can be:
– changed stool / bowel movement habits
– failure of the anastomosis (Very rare, don’t worry about it)
– infection (would normally show up in the early recovery phase)
– abscess of the bowel (also rare)

Very short term she may be asked to keep to a low residue diet to give the bowel time to heal, but this really would be only for a couple of weeks.

Bonus is there is now only half a colon,so when she has colonoscopies they will be shorter (both in time and in the physical length of internal to view!)

Good luck to her!

Answer by gorgeoustxtemptress
I am so sorry to hear this. My thoughts are with your family.