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Bowel cancer treatment and side effects

You can find lots of useful information about bowel cancer treatment on our website. You can also get information and support from our Ask the nurse service.

safasks

Illeus after right hemi colectomy!!!!

Hello,
I’m new to this forum and I was wondering if I could get some piece of mind.
My husband is 23 years old and he’s day 4 post op, he had a laparoscopic right hemicolectomy.
He tolerated the procedure well but was in a lot of pain after and received morphine for 3 days on tap.
We’re on day 4 moving into day 5 post op and his bowels don’t seem to be doing much. He’s yet to pass wind and hasn’t had a BM either. He has been burping a lot and I’m just concerned as there is gas in his system yet he hasn’t passed wind. He also had an NG tube fitted due to some issues with vomiting.
Can anyone share their stories if they’ve experienced something similar, I’m just sick of waiting around for something to happen and have major anxiety as ideally he should have had some sort of BM.
He’s been chewing gum and has been walking as much as he can but still no luck :(((((((

safasks

Anyoneeee????!!!!😃

Fairy dust

Hi @safasks
My partner had ileus after his extended right hemicolectomy in April. It lasted about a week, with him vomitting lots of bile and generally feeling pretty rotten, and I remember it being pretty scary at the time. However, once he had the first bowel movement, things rapidly improved in that respect. However, a word of caution, in the eagerness to pass a bowel movement it's advisable not to bear down too hard, as unfortunately my partner's wound was affected.However, he did have open surgery, so hoepfully this won't be too much of an issue with key hole surgery.
Fingers crossed for a successful movement soon.:x::x::x:

safasks

Thank you for the replies guys 💕, glad to see that I’m not the only one!!

Lirio345

Good morning @safasks, a very warm welcome to the forum although I am sorry to hear of your husband’s diagnosis at such a young age.

Ileus is quite common after Bowel surgery, as is the use of a nasogastric tube to drain off the bile (luckily the incident mentioned above of choking must be very rare, in fact I have never heard of that before). Ileus can last for some days and sometimes longer, but the bowel, which is a bit of a diva, will start working eventually.

Recovery from Bowel surgery is not always in a straight line, and small set backs do happen. He will recover from this though, - but it is very early days.

I have included a link below to BCUK’s information and involvement in Never2Young- there is a FB group as well. Hopefully some of this maybe of help. Please stay in touch and ask anything you wish, - but please bear in mind late night posts often don’t receive responses until the morning!!

Take care both, Kim :x::x:

www.bowelcanceruk.org.uk/campaigning/never-too-young/

hev

@safasks
Morning I had very similar experience to your husband- after my operation I was doing well walking opened my bowels and passing wind. 3/4 days after operation I had few issues with various things and had NG tube as was throwing up so much green stuff! Even with tube the bike bag would fill up but I was still being sick- it just didn’t stop& kept coming - nurses were syringing tube every 4 hours and still kept coming-was given a aniceed drink then had :x:-ray on stomach 4 hours later which showed bowel not fully functioning as should even though I was opening bowels etc
Then I actually felt like switch clicked in my stomach- I visited the loo and so much green stuff was passed and from then I was fine and recovery now in 6th week
Wishing your husband and you all the very best

semull

Hi - new to the forum and on day 5 post op (laparoscopic right hemecolectomy). I know it’s a bit of a cliche but can’t recommend prunes highly enough - worked for me! And peppermint tea/capsules for the gas. Good luck!

Liz Blakelands

@semull Hi and welcome to the forum but really sorry for you diagnosis. I hope you find the forum helpful and supportive.

Glad to hear that you are recovering well from the op and definitely agree with you about the mint tea.

Keep in touch
Liz :x::x:

KateNik

My husband needed a second operation to loosen his stoma. He was vomiting and having to have bile syringed out of hospital stomach for over a week. Without the second operation I don't think it would have resoved. His consultant thought his very strong abdominal muscles were a factor in his problem eith the first stoma.