Re: adhesions from colectomy

From: Courtney (cbratt77@aol.com)
Mon Oct 16 14:23:13 2006


Joy, I too have the FAP, i have known about it all my life I am now 29 years old. In march of 1994 I had the full-colectomy with the j-pouch. I was sixteen when I had the surgery and it was during my sophmore year in high school. I only had the ileostomy for seven weeks, I had no problems with my body adjusting to the pouch other then trying to get use to the constant diarrea. Now 12 years later, I too am having problems with the adhesion. My first experience with a bowel abstruction was in March of 2000. My husband who is in the Navy was station on a small Island in Washington state. I had to go to a military hospital to get treatment. Even though this was my first experience with a bowel obstruction I knew what to do. Only if the doctors did. I went to the ER about ten at night. I complained of nausea, vomitting and abd cramps. The doctors ordered xrays. They said the xrays did not show a large blockage. I told then that was because i had been throwing up in their waiting room bathroom for the last hour and a half. I told them I wanted iv pain meds, nausea meds, iv fluids and a ng tube. The doctor insisted he do a pelvic exam. I was balling. I told my husband I wanted to go back to Nebraska now. The only way I got what I wanted was when my husband threatened to call his commanding officer. It boiled down to they didn't believe me. They didn't understand what I had. Now I carry my medical records around with me. My husband is now stationed in Oklahoma City and I have a wonderful doctor. When we got orders here I called my doctor in Omaha (oh by the way this wonderful doctor in Omaha treats all of my family that means all thirteen of us, the gene runs strong in our family) and had him locate a doctor for me. He found me a very wonderful doctor. She is very understanding about me wanting to stay in contact with my doctor in Omaha. The first obstruction I had in Oklahoma City was in 2002. Then I had another in August of 2004 and then I had two in August of 2005. THe second one I had lysis of the adhesions. My doctor said I had a lot of adhesions. One year later almost to the date of the surgery I was in the hospital again with an obstruction. My doctor comes in to my room and says, "I see you came in for your yearly check up." I laughed. Now, when I have obstructions I call my doctor and thens she calls the hospital's ER, once I get there I get back in a room fairly quickly and I have an iv, pain and nausea meds, and my xray with in a short period of time.

After taking a moment to sit back and think, I have come to the conculsion that my bowel obstructions are caused due to stress. Everytime I have had one, something stressful was going on. Some people carry their stress in their back or their face break out, i get obstructions. The only thing I can say that truly helps with the adhesion is regular excerise. I know that sounds stupid, but my doctors says that it helps to keep the adhesions at bay. Now when i feel an obstruction coming on, ( i know you know that feeling, it has a feeling of it's own) i will stop eating and only take in thin liquids, if the thin liquids make me throw up then, off to the ER I go.

AS far as any meds, don't think so. Try to eat small meals throughout the day, don't eat large ones. One thing that I will do if I think I am getting an obstruction is to drink a red drink. It will turn my stool red. I know how fast GI tract moves. If it is moving correctly I know that in four hours I will have red stool, if it takes longer than that I know to lay low on eating hard to digest foods. I think you are getting UTI's because at the time of your obstruction you are not getting enough water. Remember the colon takens in 95% of the body's water and without the colon you have to take it in differently. Try adding for salt to your food. Salt will help your body absorb the water. If you are feeling tired and run down a lot, try to take a hour nap during the day. Have you had the doctors check your hemoglobin latley? Maybe that is low. Or since you are not wanting to eat your nutrition is poor, your body is not getting enough nutrition. Try the small meals. I am lucky I work in a hospital, and I am currently in Nursing school, (hince the obstruction this past August) my friends understand it. Beware some meds my slow your bowels down more I hope some of this helps. I know your pain. I get frustrated and discourage, but then I think that I don't ahve it as bad as of my family members. I have three who are currently going through chemo for tumors and onw who has terminal cancer. If you have any more question I will be more then happy to try to help. Courtney

At Wed, 11 Oct 2006, Joy wrote: >
>When I was 3 years old, I was diagnosed with a rare disease called
>F.A.P. which causes hundreds to thousands of pre-cancerous polyps to
>develop in the large intestine. I had a full colectomy with a J-pouch
>and temporary ileostomy. After a few years, once my body adjusted to
>its new set-up, I was able to live normally devoid of any real problems
>for almost 10 years.
>


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