Advice please on surgery

[Alan88]

Hi all,

I have had 3 "flare-ups" this year. Currently going through one now and the last was only three months ago.

For those that have had surgery..

1. Did it stop the Diverticulitis attacks?
2. How hard is it to recover from?
3. Any experience or advice is much appreciated?

I go in for a consult shortly and just want to read others experiences and thoughts. As the father of young children, I am the provider and am worried about being out of work for awhile. Thanks so much.

[bstrom]

Alan88 wrote:

Hi all,
I have had 3 "flare-ups" this year. Currently going through one now and the last was only three months ago.
For those that have had surgery..
1. Did it stop the Diverticulitis attacks?
2. How hard is it to recover from?
3. Any experience or advice is much appreciated?
I go in for a consult shortly and just want to read others experiences and thoughts. As the father of young children, I am the provider and am worried about being out of work for awhile. Thanks so much.

Hi Alan,
I am 32 y/o male who had 2 flare ups in 6 weeks. I am probably too new to answer most of your questions as I had my surgery on 8/17 and was released on 8/21. So far I do not have the pains I had with diverticulitis (even after infection I had tenderness/soreness on lower left quadrant). That is all gone which is encouraging. I also feel a sense of confidence that I will not need emergency surgery, I walked around feeling like a ticking time bomb based on some of the horror stories people told about a rupture and perionitis.
The surgery was quick and was not terribly painful, more discomfort than pain, I never felt "Sharp pains like a cut", it was more nagging, tenderness around the incision and a cramping tight feeling at the resection. I had it done laproscopically so my healing time was quick in the hospital. I was on morphine for 2 days, that felt great took everything away, however coming off of it was pretty rough on the system. Also the anesthia is pretty crazy on the body, I sweated and sweated through the night. Never had a fever but sweated like I ran a marathon, they said that could be from morphine withdrawl, the surgery or the anestheia. Either way it was annoying but nothing to worry about. They kept me on liquids for 1 day and then I went to soft foods, toast, pasta etc after the 2nd day. They wont let you leave till you pass a stool which happened after 2 days. They have you walk a lot, like 3-5 times a day, get your body moving right away to start the healing process and get your body moving again. I was released from the hospital on 8/21 so 4 days, not bad. I was on oxycodone for about 10 days, in the hospital I took 2 pills every 4 hours and needed it. Once I got home I really weened off of it and I didnt need it that bad, mostly just at night.
I can walk fine, dont have any pain, cut is healing good little tender but nothing more than the feeling of a cut or scrape. Only problem I am having now 2 weeks after operation is a constipation feeling. I go the bathroom a lot, several times a day, and feel like I cant finish. doctors say that is part of the healing process and it is a lot of shock to your colon so it takes time to get back to normal. To be honest I would go back to work today if it werent for the bathroom issue. Would be hard when you have to go all the time. If this constipation feeling and gas feeling goes away then I would say I am feeling perfect and the surgery was well worth it.

Also the surgeon said he took out about 6-8 inches of my colon, he said it was pretty bad, lots of diverticulum. It didn't look that bad on the CT scan, so you cant see everything from the CT scan. I had an abcess and that did not show up on the ct scan. So I am glad I had the surgery, I now have peace of mind. Now I just need to get past this constipation and I will be 100%

Hope this helps. I will keep you updated as I progress. RIght now my restictions are 6 weeks without lifting 10 lbs, that is tough I have a 16 month old son. And I can go back to work whenever I feel like it, which I am hoping will be next week.

[Joy]

Alan88 wrote:

Hi all,
I have had 3 "flare-ups" this year. Currently going through one now and the last was only three months ago.
For those that have had surgery..
1. Did it stop the Diverticulitis attacks?
2. How hard is it to recover from?
3. Any experience or advice is much appreciated?
I go in for a consult shortly and just want to read others experiences and thoughts. As the father of young children, I am the provider and am worried about being out of work for awhile. Thanks so much.

Hi Alan, I am 8 month post surgery:
1 So far no diverticulitis attacks
2. Took me about 6-8 weeks to get back to mostly normal. LOnger to feel great as I do now :-)
3. I decided to go ahead after I had had bouts with this for 7 years, infrequent at first but more frequent as time went by. Toward the end I could never get rid of it, as soon as I would come off antibiotics back would come the pain. I really felt that surgery was my only option. I tried all sorts of eating modes and nothing helped me!

It is a tough decision but I have no regrets about having had the surgery.... I got my life back, YAY!!! Joy

[Rob]

Alan88 wrote:

Hi all,
I have had 3 "flare-ups" this year. Currently going through one now and the last was only three months ago.
For those that have had surgery..
1. Did it stop the Diverticulitis attacks?
2. How hard is it to recover from?
3. Any experience or advice is much appreciated?
I go in for a consult shortly and just want to read others experiences and thoughts. As the father of young children, I am the provider and am worried about being out of work for awhile. Thanks so much.

Alan,

I had my surgery 3 months ago today. Got rid of my problem - I feel better than any time in the past 5 years since I developed DV. My 1 mistake was thinking the surgery wasn't that big of a deal, and that I could get back to work in 3 weeks. I had a couple of complications and was out for 6 weeks total.

Recovery - the first 2 weeks were tough - plan on not being very mobile and be happy if you are.

Make sure your support network is available. My wife helped me with everything - including wiping. I couldn't reach back due to soreness and I'm a reasonably slender guy...

Finally - give yourself time to heal. I was so anxious about returning to work, I think the healing took even longer..

Hope this helps...

[Observing]

Surgery in March of '06 after more than two years of weekly attacks.

I have no regrets ......... diet becomes very important after surgery and do not hold your bowels when they need to move.

Also, keep a regular eating schedule ... and don't over-eat!

Always, be conscience of the location of a clean restroom ....... you got to go! Do it!

[nat42]

yeah, right on Observing, I had lap surgery in nov.07, my doctor told me "live long and prosper" and that is what I do. Small meals, avoid foods that hurt (very individual, for me it is beans and lentils), fart when you havta fart.....

So far so good, I eat better than ever, very varied diet....
take care

[Jeff]

Alan I'm in EXACTLY the same situation right now - small children, etc.

Alan88 wrote:

Hi all,
I have had 3 "flare-ups" this year. Currently going through one now and the last was only three months ago.
For those that have had surgery..
1. Did it stop the Diverticulitis attacks?
2. How hard is it to recover from?
3. Any experience or advice is much appreciated?
I go in for a consult shortly and just want to read others experiences and thoughts. As the father of young children, I am the provider and am worried about being out of work for awhile. Thanks so much.

[Jeff]

Thank you everyone who has posted a response and thank you to the person who posted the question. The 4 folks who have posted responses have helped me tremendously. I just found this website a few minutes ago. Kind of a tough worrying night. Your encouragement is right on time. Thanks.

[connie]

You are right..go when you need to go..don't OVEREAT//drink lots of water and Eat High fiber food>>I find a drink helps and excercise also>>had mine 3 years ago..a foot of colon removed>>