So–a very good friend of mine has been having frequent-enough attacks of diverticulitis that his doctors have told him they strongly recommend a sigmoid colectomy (the surgical removal of the sigmoid colon).
While he agrees that it would be good to stop the approximately yearly bouts of antibiotics and associated weeks of pain/antibiotic use/etc., he’s Googled the results and is scared of the potential after-effects of the surgery.
He’s very active and, of course, found all the Reddit posts where people have had problems with sudden and unavoidable bowel movements after recovery. He’s worried that he won’t be able to go for long hikes or long airplane flights or anything else where he might be more than 5 minutes from a bathroom. As he’s a good friend and one of my favorite hiking companions he shared his worries with me to get my (totally uninformed) opinion.
So I said I would inquire of the board to see if people who might have had the operation, or knew someone who had, might be willing to share their experience and quality of life afterward. Frankly, I am much more inclined to trust the experiences of the SDMB than I am to believe the randomness of the general interwebs.
I understand his concerns. I don’t know what I would do in his (hiking) shoes were it me. The option to just live with it seems to be off the table as the doctors have dropped the scary thought that he could eventually have a perforation occur and then things would go downhill fast.
All thoughts and suggestions appreciated. He’s a healthy male in his late fifties in generally good health otherwise. I’ll just direct him to this thread to see results, but he’s reluctant to post here so, if necessary, I may be his intermediary. Thanks, Dopers.
I’ve had 20 cm of my sigmoid colon removed because of recurring diverticulitis and have experienced none of this.
My surgery was done laparoscopically so there were no large incisions and my recovery was unremarkable. My quality of life is great after the surgery and I wouldn’t hesitate to go on long hikes.
Your friend should inquire about laparoscopic surgery and if he is a good candidate for that. Recovery is way faster and less complicated.
He also needs to know that the surgery could begin as laparoscopic but due to anomalies in his physiology the procedure could turn into traditional open abdominal surgery.
I was told this before my surgery began, but it didn’t matter to me - the diseased bowel had to come out.
It makes a lot more sense to look for quality information on the “general interwebs” than to depend on experiences of a few Dopers.
Incidence of complications is affected by factors including advanced age, obesity, extent of physical activity and smoking.
When weighing potential for post-surgical problems, the incidence of serious complications when following conservative care also needs to be considered.
*I’ve seen a lot of grotty sigmoid colon resections for diverticulitis but thankfully have not had to deal with the issue myself.
You have valid points. My attempt was to get the commentary have a group of people who tend to be much more fact-based than the general public. Further, because I am a member and he is not, my request here opened up an area other than the general internet for comments thus providing information he would not have access to. My goal was to just add to his already overwhelming amount of information on people’s experiences.
And I will admit to a preference for the level of messages here than from the general public overall. Perhaps I’m biased because I know that I won’t ask about the symptom of banging my hand with a hammer and get a response that “it’s probably cancer and affairs should be put in order.”
I had a sigmoid colectomy done 26 years ago at age 42. Large adenomatous mass that couldn’t be removed during colonoscopy. I was my first colonoscopy due mother with colon cancer. She has since died of it and cousin and paternal grandfather were already dead from it. Back then midline incision, 42 staples. Haven’t had any problems since. Have colonoscopies every two years and always have polyps. Last time was the first with no adenomatous ones, just hyperplastic. Can’t say how it may help in your friends’ case as mine was precancer issues not diverticulitis but I’ve had no problem with the procedure itself.