What You Face With Colitis Surgery

There comes a time when a percentage of colitis sufferers reach the point when they are faced with the prospect of surgery to remove the large intestine. Whatever the varying reasons for this, the prospect of having a major organ taken out of the body is both alarming and anxiety ridden for the patient.

Often, colitis surgery is undertaken due to the symptoms having reached an uncontrolled state. The patient will by then have been admitted to hospital and will be administered high dosages of powerful steroids which will not have the desired effect of bringing under control the diarrhoea and blood being passed.

The operation to extract the diseased large colon is major and will take approximately four to five hours. The patient will require the formation of an ileostomy which shall be used as the end point of the bowel to evacuate waste. The end of the ileostomy is in fact the end of the small bowel which is brought through a hole formed on the abdominal wall. It pokes out by approximately two to four centimetres and a bag is attached to the surrounding skin to catch and store the body’s waste.

After surgery, the patient will feel sore from both the surgical wound and internally. As the small bowel will have been handled and inspected it will feel quite raw though the bonus is that it will not be in an operative state. After such major surgery, the bowel goes into a period of abeyance which can last for a few days before it reawakens and starts to function again.

The ilesotomy will remain for a period of time to let the body heal before further surgery is undertaken. The length of the period will be determined by the health of the patient when they were admitted to hospital. Some patients, often older, prefer to keep the ileostomy but this is not the only option available. Many decide to have further operations to form what is known as a j pouch which is an internal area formed from the small intestine and used to store the waste until evacuation and does away with the need for an ilesotomy.

Colitis surgery is major and can take the form of one or several operations where the formation of an ileostomy can be either temporary or permanent. It is a time of major anxiety about the procedure itself and how to cope not just in the immediate days after but in the long term as well. Questions such as what does it feel like not to have a large colon, how is the diet affected, how is daily life affected by wearing a bag are commonly asked. By finding practical answers to problems, the patient will be able to ensure that their immediate post surgery period and living with an ileostomy or j pouch is made much easier and the anxieties that are present can be addressed. The answers are now provided to you by a survivor who has experienced it all and can provide you with knowledge few doctors are able to offer. It is all available to you at The Colitis Experience