Pipmeister
Senior Retro Guru
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Re:
Update:
Some of you may be aware that I had Surgery November 2017 for Bowel Cancer, followed by 7 of months of Chemotherapy. I have since gone back to work Part-Time, and I am currently able to cycle in the manner that does it for me
.
I do feel however that the Stoma in my belly, and attached Colostomy Bag is unfinished business. I requested that I have a Reversal Operation to re-join the Bowel, and that has now been scheduled for Monday 3rd June.
The surgeon will only know what he is dealing with when he goes in, as they call it. He could be faced with problems caused by the Chemotherapy. He told me that the walls of the Bowel can become fused together as the Chemo also destroys healthy cells while attacking the Cancer cells. He will need to separate enough Bowel to work with, which is a tricky process. If he can then join the two ends of bowel together, he may not be happy with the sealing of the join - apparently it is pressure tested. I will then need to have a Loop Ileostomy. This is where a loop of Small Intestines is pulled through and stitched to the Abdomen wall. A slit is cut into the protruding loop, and the downstream end that goes to the Large Intestines is temporarily tied off. This means that my food waste will avoid the Bowel while it is allowed to heal.
So if I wake up with another bag hanging on the other side of my belly, I will know that I will need 2nd operation sometime later to complete the Reversal. Apparently that operation is very straightforward compared to open Abdominal Surgery. If this is the case, my diet will need to be altered to accommodate the Bowel bypass. I haven’t looked into it much, but it will consist of no insoluble fibre as the Bowel is where this is broken down. I’ll need more water as nothing will be absorbed back into the body in the final Bowel section. Nutrition is more important as some nutrients are absorbed in the final Bowel section. Anyway, this is only a possibility, but the worse scenario is that the join still may not be possible at all, and the Reversal will be abandoned. If I wake up with a bag on the same side, then I have to deal with a Colostomy Bag for the rest of my life :cry: .
Anyway, I saw the Surgeon 2 weeks ago, and he has explained all of the risks. There is a 3% Mortality Rate for Laparoscopic Hartmann Procedure Reversal. Then there is a 10% risk of Anastomotic Leak, but I’m not sure if this percentage is when I am still in Theatre, resulting in the Loop Ileostomy, or whether 10% of them leak after being sewn up again, which apparently is life threatening. Then there are all the other “normal” risks associated with Surgery on a 60 year old bloke.
Regardless of the risk and failure percentages, I have signed the Consent Form..... so it is on!
Pip
Update:
Some of you may be aware that I had Surgery November 2017 for Bowel Cancer, followed by 7 of months of Chemotherapy. I have since gone back to work Part-Time, and I am currently able to cycle in the manner that does it for me
.I do feel however that the Stoma in my belly, and attached Colostomy Bag is unfinished business. I requested that I have a Reversal Operation to re-join the Bowel, and that has now been scheduled for Monday 3rd June.
The surgeon will only know what he is dealing with when he goes in, as they call it. He could be faced with problems caused by the Chemotherapy. He told me that the walls of the Bowel can become fused together as the Chemo also destroys healthy cells while attacking the Cancer cells. He will need to separate enough Bowel to work with, which is a tricky process. If he can then join the two ends of bowel together, he may not be happy with the sealing of the join - apparently it is pressure tested. I will then need to have a Loop Ileostomy. This is where a loop of Small Intestines is pulled through and stitched to the Abdomen wall. A slit is cut into the protruding loop, and the downstream end that goes to the Large Intestines is temporarily tied off. This means that my food waste will avoid the Bowel while it is allowed to heal.
So if I wake up with another bag hanging on the other side of my belly, I will know that I will need 2nd operation sometime later to complete the Reversal. Apparently that operation is very straightforward compared to open Abdominal Surgery. If this is the case, my diet will need to be altered to accommodate the Bowel bypass. I haven’t looked into it much, but it will consist of no insoluble fibre as the Bowel is where this is broken down. I’ll need more water as nothing will be absorbed back into the body in the final Bowel section. Nutrition is more important as some nutrients are absorbed in the final Bowel section. Anyway, this is only a possibility, but the worse scenario is that the join still may not be possible at all, and the Reversal will be abandoned. If I wake up with a bag on the same side, then I have to deal with a Colostomy Bag for the rest of my life :cry: .
Anyway, I saw the Surgeon 2 weeks ago, and he has explained all of the risks. There is a 3% Mortality Rate for Laparoscopic Hartmann Procedure Reversal. Then there is a 10% risk of Anastomotic Leak, but I’m not sure if this percentage is when I am still in Theatre, resulting in the Loop Ileostomy, or whether 10% of them leak after being sewn up again, which apparently is life threatening. Then there are all the other “normal” risks associated with Surgery on a 60 year old bloke.
Regardless of the risk and failure percentages, I have signed the Consent Form..... so it is on!
Pip
