41 Weeks After Surgery

It is hard to believe that almost ten months has gone by since bowel resection surgery. I think I have done well. I have dropped 60 pounds since surgery and have gone from 44-46 waist slacks to 38-40 waist pants. I am walking 45-60 minutes per day, I have gotten off most of the medications I was taking prior to surgery and am feeling very well. The other day I noticed that the general feeling of malaise (generally not feeling well) has pretty much left. I felt well much of the time prior to surgery and the weight loss but there would be days where I generally did not feel good. We might call them days where you feel "off." No specific complaints and I did not feel sick, just didn't feel well. I've noticed that overall feeling seems to be gone. There are days I get frustrated or aggravated with my irregular heart beat but I seem to be learning to live with that. There are days I feel a pain or ache someplace but I can always determine the source and it goes away quite soon.

I am going to have my gall bladder out in a couple of weeks. I found out from a CT Scan before surgery that I had gall stones but the bowel resection took precedence and the surgeon wanted to wait six months to a year before he removed the gall bladder. Well, it is now ten months and time for those symptoms to go away.

I still have some psychological issues. The cancer surgery apparently was more stressful than I thought. I ended up with an increase in my irregular heart beat and have been hospitalized for an A-Fib attack and spent some time seeing cardiologists in determining that I do not have a heart problem. Everyone has an irregular heartbeat, I am just more aware of mine right now. I am working on ignoring the event when it occurs and that does seem to be effective.

I still can have some pain when I have a bowel movement however it is because I may push too hard. The pain when I urinate is pretty much gone, and I have determined that that pain was caused by muscle strain from pushing too hard having a BM. I do encounter periods of gas when I eat, not always but I have no predictor for the event. Not only that I have a hard time controlling the expulsion of said gas and that has caused me some embarrassment. Thank God no one has fallen on the floor laughing, however I usually end up snickering.

I give thanks that the cancer was caught so early. I do have to go in for a follow-up colonoscopy an about a month, but I believe that will simply confirm the prognosis of the physicians who have evaluated my case. As I believe I said before, the Oncologist made a statement like, "your cured." I know nothing is 100% in medicine, but the growth was caught very early. Thanks to the Family Physician that agitated me for a couple of years to have the test done. It is a shame I waited as long as I did.

Anyway, I am still recovering. My BM's are not regular but my control has improved dramatically. I am much more comfortable in my daily life, and with the weight loss and exercise I have gotten back enthusiasm for working around the house, much to the delight of my wife.

For those of you that may read this, I pray your outcome, if you have bowel resection surgery is a successful as mine has been. I recall those early days of recovery and it is tough. But I've noticed continual improvement as I have gone along and I am sure you will to. God Bless All.

Posted by yoopertom at 5:23 AM


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30 Weeks After Surgery

My Dr.s recommendation to take Citrucel daily seems to be paying off. I am not regular, however, the evening seems to be the time for a BM. I still go often, sometimes 5+ times a day. I call it a "little a lot." I have not been experiencing the incomplete feeling much, I have relaxed and instead of trying to push if I feel I have to go more I just relax and let my body handle it. If nothing else comes, I get up and go on about my business. I may be back on the commode in half an hour, but I don't have the extreme discomfort of "hang fires."

I still get pain in the rectal area when I go, and then if I have to urinate soon after a BM it will be painful. Other times it is not. I don't attach any great importance to the pain, I just figure it my body is trying to make sense of things. I have not had an accident in some time now, so I figure that is significant. I have also found out that if I'm traveling or in a meeting I can postpone a BM without an accident. There was a time that when my body said it was time to go you had better get seated quickly. Now it seems to accept a delay.

I still get gas, not regularly and I'm not sure what triggers it, but sometimes I get gas like I feel I might be a balloon whose inlet has been release and flies crazily around the room. Most of the time there is no odor, but if there is odor present I will probably have a BM fairly soon. So I'm learning my body's new paradigm.

If a Dr. said this is as good as you're going to get, I could live with this. I still think it will get better. I recall the lady I met who had a bowel resection and had more serious issues than I and after five years she said she doesn't feel like she had surgery. I hope for that day.

I have another issue, heart arrhythmia that is causing some discomfort. I go to the Cardiologist tomorrow to have a Holter Monitor put on. Nothing serious, but my PVC's are grouping. They were random, but now I seem to get a grouping in the early morning, mid-afternoon, and when I go to bed. That also tends to be the time I take a drug called Rythmol to prevent A-Fib. I don't have enough good data to support a link, but the timing seems to be close. I guess we'll learn about that in the next few days.

As far as the bowel resection, I feel good. My anxiety level is down, however I do find myself quite nostalgic. I wish I were closer to my home area in Michigan, I wish I saw my kids more often. My two sisters are growing older, I don't want them to. I guess before surgery I did not see a horizon in my future, now I do. I can make out the tree line in the distance as the end of my days move in and I do not like it. My wife has become very important to me, our time together precious. It might sound like I'm dwelling on a bleak future, I am not. I have always thought time goes too fast. There is so much to enjoy in this world, I guess I am lamenting the passage of time. I do try to get out of each day as much as I can. I am blessed.

Time Pases

It is now more that 28 weeks since surgery. From a health standpoint I feel fine. I believe my body is still adjusting to the new situation and psychologically I am still a little fragile. Last week I had a good week, all week. I felt well, I had my episodes having bowel movements and that is aggravating, but I really felt good. Until Saturday. Saturday my wife and I had one of our daughters and her new "main man" over for dinner. I had felt uneasy all day, I was going a lot and had that discomfort associated with many BM's. However, it still was a good day. I had forgotten to take Citrucel Friday night so I took a dose Saturday morning.

After dinner and everyone had left with the exception of one granddaughter who was spending the night I took the regular dose of Citrucel. However, I had started feeling bloated about an hour before. I did eat a lot of tomatoes, pickles and drank a lot of coffee. Plus, I had not taken my usual three or four bottles of water during the day. After the granddaughter and my wife went over to the trailer I spent a little time playing solitaire on the computer and mentally letting the day come down. I started feeling worse, pain in my stomach area. Not down low in the bowel region but up higher just above my belly button. I thought it was gas so I took some baking soda in water and belched a few times. The pain got worse, it was really uncomfortable, but I thought once I lie down it'll be OK. Well it wasn't. To make a long story short I was up until 3:30 AM with stomach cramps. It was not the abdominal muscles that were cramping but the stomach. I started to think I hurt myself, a ulcer had eaten a hole in my stomach and caused a blood line to break, I don't know but when I am all alone at night my mind can get pretty dark.

At 3:30 AM I came downstairs, got on WEB MD and checked out the symptoms. Well hell, I had symptoms of about 20 ailments. I figured if the symptoms are so generalized then it probably isn't serious. I got a bottle of water, sipped it and played some more solitaire as I contemplated waking my wife up and suggesting she take me to the emergency room cause I was in trouble. Well, as I sipped the water the symptoms cleared up. I felt discomfort from the area for a while, but the symptoms left and I went to bed. Unfortunately Sunday has been lethargic. I feel like I've been drug through a knot hole, but the cramping is gone. Apparently I didn't drink enough water, maybe the extra load of Citrucel, and the acid in the food all conspired to give me a rough time. What ever the reason today I feel OK, just tired.

One of the problems I encounter when anything like that happens is I get melancholy. I realize how much my wife means to me, I know we are getting older and in the next ten years or so will enter the golden years of our lives. I guess because of her diabetes we both assume she will go first, yet I am older, by six years. I can't bear the thought of having to go through life without her. My wife is not what you would call a sentimental nurturing person, but she is fiercely loyal. She believes she can overcome and works hard around the house taking care of things. Everything is just better with her! Oh well, enough already. It was a good week capped by a troublesome few days. Next week has the opportunity of being better.