How do I know if it's a blockage?

[Little t]

This weekend we thought my husband had a blockage. He had colostomy surgery for rectal cancer 2-19-10. Nothing was coming out from Tues.- this morning. I have been on the phone with the surgeon. First we tried miralax Wed. and Thur. nothing. Sat. night he said try magnesium citrate and drink lots of fluid. still nothing or not very much. a cup maybe of liquid mud type of feces. Finally we were on our way to the ER and it started flowing. It looks like very wet mud. I found out my husband has a stricture in his colon. Apparently that is a narrowing of the colon and then it gets bigger again. Not a good place to be with a new colostomy. What should I look for besides not going? Please help!

Toni

[Ivona]

While I didn't get a colostomy, it did take quite some time for my bowels to achieve some sort of normalcy. First of all, after my surgery, I didn't 'go' for 7 days. I kept calling my surgeon and my GI and they didn't seem to offer much help. I was told to drink prune juice and use Metamucil. Once that got cleared up...my movements were the consistency of peanut butter. It was really a trying time..I never knew when it would 'hit'...and I soiled more than a fair share of underwear. Then I started chemo and things just went from pretty crappy to really crappy. Pun fully intended.
It really wasn't until 2 or 3 months post chemo that I began to get 'normal' again. I also have a stricture..the anastomosis site. So much so that my last colonoscopy was a 'no-go'.

GIve it time.

[Gaelen]

Toni - the turning-point symptom of a blockage is usually vomiting. If your husband starts vomiting, especially now that you know he has a stricture, then I'd add two and two and call the ER.

[NWgirl]

Ditto what Gaelen said. When I had my first surgery to remove the tumor and put in a temp ileostomy, within 24 hours of being released from the hospital I started vomiting. And vomiting, and vomiting and vomiting. And it wasn't pretty - I was basically vomiting poop (doctors words). I called my surgeon who told me to go to the ER - and I ended up with another 7 day hospital stay. My husband, in retrospect, said he felt stupid because he didn't realize at the time how serious the vomiting issue was. I had no pain - just the vomiting and of course, felt really sick and nauseas because of it. I've heard that blockages can be extremely painful, so I'd consider that another big red flag if he was having a lot of pain issues.

[tmn]

When I experienced a blockage the symptoms were severe pain and vomiting. It required four-day hospital stay.

[justsing]

Although most people do experience pain, I did not and that delayed my diagnosis in a big way. Vomiting: definitely Pain: not necessarily

I had a stricture very early in the small bowel and so I was experiencing an ever increasing sense of fullness and then it would be like one last swallow of saliva was the straw that broke the camel's back and I would vomit up 2 quarts of whatever I had in there.

I now know that the capacity of my digestive system to the second chamber of my duodenum is about 6 cups of fluid. I'm just SURE that I'll be glad I know that some day.

At any rate. Vomiting is the big symptom for me, and it ended up being important to note the level of digestedness of the stuff I was bringing up. How much bile, color on the green to gold to brown spectrum? Any recognizable food from what you've been eating / drinking? It helps them get an idea of how far along in the tract they might need to look.

hope that helps!

[Staci's team]

And another ditto for what others have said before -- if he gets to the vomiting stage, I'd start the car and get on the way to the ER. 36 hours after discharge, with a new colostomy that appeared to be working as expected, Staci started vomiting some really vile stuff, and we were back to the hospital for a 12-day stay. Ultimate diagnosis was adhesions that had caused a blockage and required another surgery to fix her folded-over small bowel.

I'm not sure if surgery would be used for a stricture -- since I don't know what surgery would do to expand a stricture -- but just want to be another voice chiming in that says "if it's vomit, head back to the hospital." Justsing's question about its color is a good one as well, since it will definitely help with at least getting the docs in the right area to start their investigation.

Hope it's not a blockage....

[Little t]

Thank you all so much,

So far he is doing OK. Very tired and short of breath. Only eating soft food. I'm keeping my eyes open for signs of a blood clot as well. He is in bed allot was on chemo and avastin and has a heart murmur. So many things to worry about. Thank God for this site and the home care nurses.

Love to all!
Toni