I had approximately 8 inches of my sigmoid colon resected with no stoma...... anamastosis about 2 inches above the rectum. About 1 week after the surgery, I was home and recovering, feeling great, but having fairly heavy bleeding mixed in my stool. I was on the no fiber/low residue diet recommended. I ending up going to the ER because the bleeding was starting to worry me. They did a CAT scan and found nothing indicating a leak or problem with the anamastosis. Since the hemoglobin levels were fine, they sent me home and told me to follow up with my surgeon. The bleeding stopped before I called the surgeon and they told me to just keep an eye on it.
Over the next 2 weeks, I felt better and better each day with no recurrence of the bleeding. I have used stool softener during this time. My follow-up visit with my surgeon went well and he released me to go back to work, light duty. He also wanted me to start adding fiber back into the diet. Stools have been relatively formed and fairly easy to pass. Fast forward to this past Thursday and I started noticing sort of dark red blood mixed in with the stool. No bleeding between stools and no stains on my underwear. Again I called my surgeon and the nurse told me that I should keep watching for light-headedness or lots of bleeding. Now its Saturday night and another semi-bloody bowel movement. Still no pain at all. So I am still concerned because I keep finding horror stories online from anamastotic bleeding.
Is this common? Could I have started fiber too soon and it is irritating the surgery site? I really really really don't want to go to the ER again since I have no pain and no discomfort. Any advice would be appreciated.