Pissed off with my GI!!

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O Stoma Mia
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Re: Pissed off with my GI!!

Postby O Stoma Mia » Sat Oct 16, 2021 9:07 pm

It seems to me that it might be time for you to take up the surgeon's original suggestion and schedule a resection surgery to remove what's left of the troublesome ischemic sigmoid colon. What do you think? Earlier, in 2016, member KimT mentioned that she had arranged for that kind of surgery and that it solved her problems. Why don't you inquire about finding an experienced surgeon who can perform a good sigmoid colectomy surgery? This would be a different surgeon from the one who did your original surgery, since you wouldn't want to have a repeat of what happened in that surgery.

I think your earlier colonoscopies were mostly normal except for the sigmoid ischemia diagnosis. Now, your most recent colonoscopy shows additional problems -- an ulcer that is indicative of Ulcerative Colitis or Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD), and a new condition called redundant colon. So, it appears that things are not getting any better; in fact, they are probably getting worse.

I think that now is the time for you to take decisive action and to do the neccessary planning to get doctor's approval to remove the remaining part of the sigmoid colon so that it is done as a planned, scheduled sigmoid colectomy surgery, not as an emergency surgery done in the ER. You wouldn't want to have this kind of surgery done by whichever general surgeon happens to be on duty in the ER at the time, because he/she may not be a colorectal-experienced surgeon.

And what about the members of your Facebook group? What do they think you should do ??

In 2016, DarknessEmbraced wrote:...The surgeon did mention the possibility of another resection surgery to cut out the ischemic sigmoid. (the remaining half) ...

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In 2016, DarknessEmbraced wrote:The surgeon said that he would have a follow up with me to discuss colonoscopy results. He's a general and thoracic surgeon so maybe someone else is writing the colonoscopy report or he hasn't got to it yet. He has mentioned the possibility of surgery to remove the ischemic sigmoid and if there are any other ischemic sections of my colon. No biopsies were taken. I don't think information is being withheld. I would like to know what caused my ischemic colitis and how to prevent it from happening again.

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In 2016, DarknessEmbraced wrote:The biopsy during the sigmoidoscopy showed ischemic colitis. The blood supply to my colon was reduced. The surgeon said it's like having a heart attack in your colon. He's doing the colonoscopy to see if there are more areas that have reduced blood supply. I won't find out the results the same day but will have a follow up appointment. They have to find the reason for my ischemic colitis. He mentioned surgery to remove the damaged areas as a possibility.

http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-cond ... n-20026677

Thanks for the hugs and the good luck with the prep.

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In 2016, KimT wrote:I've followed your story and wondered if ischemic bowel could be your problem. Your symptoms are so similar to mine and we're why I had a second colon resection. Colonoscopy revealed that the internal anastamosis had never healed. My surgeon believed that it was related to the surgical clips used in the original surgery and possibly complicated by low blood supply to the area. It is always a risk with a colon resection that blood supply may be reduced to the remaining bowel. If I were you, I would do the surgery. I had countless rounds of antibiotics and steroids in hopes of avoiding surgery. At the time I was living in Thailand. My first surgery was done in the states and I feared a surgery overseas. By the time I had the surgery, I was way too sick to fly home to the states or even a 2 hour flight to Singapore. My second surgery cured it. It was amazing how much better I felt immediately. I recall waking up in recovery and although I was in pain from surgery, I felt better. I knew that whatever had been going on in my guts was resolved. My surgeon was amazing and the whole Thai approach to medicine was amazing.

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In 2016, MissMolly wrote:Darkness:
I am sorry to read of your ongoing intestinal-related frustrations.

Know that there are dysfunctions of the body that are not observable on a scan, x-ray, or scope. If the dysfunction in question is not a structural or anatomical problem, it will not be seen or visualized.

Such may be your predicament. My sense is that you are dealing with a motility issue of the intestine or other physiological dysfunction. That is, a dysfunction in how your gut is functioning. Less the structure or anatomy of your gut and intestines, which is why your scopes are without gross abnormal finding. The term used is dysmotility.

Certainly, ongoing intermittent and recurring lack of adequate vascular flow to any part of the intestine (ischemia) would account for your recurring symptoms.

I have a permanent ileostomy + lingering dysmotility of my remaining small intestine. Episodes of dysmotility can wreck havoc on my life, but only temporarily. Once an episode has eased, I can usually regain my footing and re-engage in life.

There are intestinal motility specialists. They look at the physiology of the intestinal tract - the question of "how is the intestinal tract working?" You live in Canada, so I am less certain as to how you would locate a motility specialist then if you lived in the United States. But certainly, Canada will have a network of motility specialists available and/or hospitals with designated intestinal motility speciality centers.

I hope for you a better day today, and tomorrow.
- karen -

DarknessEmbraced
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Joined: Sat Nov 01, 2014 4:54 pm
Facebook Username: Riann Fletcher
Location: New Brunswick, Canada

Re: Pissed off with my GI!!

Postby DarknessEmbraced » Wed Oct 20, 2021 1:57 pm

Thank you O Stoma Mia. I was wrong about the problem area being in my remaining sigmoid. It's in the splenic flexure area near the descending colon. It's an area with the smallest blood vessels in the body according to my GI. Redundant colon just means that my colon is more floppy meaning that it's harder to my GI to navigate it during a colonoscopy. I wouldn't want to go through another surgery because I don't think that it would solve the issue. It would just serve to further shorten my colon. I had a really long recovery from my last open surgery. I wrote a follow up post about my telephone appointment with my GI this afternoon.
Diagnosed 10/28/14, age 36
Colon Resection 11/20/14, LAR (no illeo)
Stage 2a colon cancer, T3NOMO
Lymph-vascular invasion undetermined
0/22 lymph nodes
No chemo, no radiation
Clear Colonoscopy 04/29/15
NED 10/20/15
Ischemic Colitis 01/21/16
NED 11/10/16
CT Scan moved up due to high CEA 08/21/17
NED 09/25/17
NED 12/21/18
Clear colonoscopy 09/23/19
Clear 5 year scans 11/21/19- Considered cured! :)


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