My mum has diverticulitis and has been told she needs an operation?!
Question: My mum has been in hospital 3 times in the last 9 months with this condition (shes 56 by the way).Shes had all the antibiotics under the sun which has given her terrible thrush and shes generally feeling like s**t.Right now shes in hospital again and has been told after this course of antibiotics she will be allowed home and has to return for elective surgery.What does this involve,she won't say much and I'm actually bothered by this as my mums a big old London girl with an attitude to match,but this has knocked her for 6.Not only that she had (sorry don't know what it's called) a camera look into her colon but they couldn't get the camera past a certain point because of a blockage (she was due to have it done again this monday coming)but now they obviously want to get my mums infection cleared up.Am I right in thinking this is a delicate operation and that she could well be ill for some time?
Answers: My mum has been in hospital 3 times in the last 9 months with this condition (shes 56 by the way).Shes had all the antibiotics under the sun which has given her terrible thrush and shes generally feeling like s**t.Right now shes in hospital again and has been told after this course of antibiotics she will be allowed home and has to return for elective surgery.What does this involve,she won't say much and I'm actually bothered by this as my mums a big old London girl with an attitude to match,but this has knocked her for 6.Not only that she had (sorry don't know what it's called) a camera look into her colon but they couldn't get the camera past a certain point because of a blockage (she was due to have it done again this monday coming)but now they obviously want to get my mums infection cleared up.Am I right in thinking this is a delicate operation and that she could well be ill for some time?
If your mum has a blockage the surgeon will cut out the piece of gut that is affected and sew the two bits back together.
Think of a bicycle inner-tube?
To give this time to heal properly he might make a colostomy.
This is a loop of gut which is brought out onto her tummy through a little slit.
She will poo through that instead of normally.
She will be shown how to deal with it before she comes home and she will have home visits from a stoma nurse or district nurse
A little plastic pouch-colostomy bag- is stuck on over the "stoma" (a knob of gut) and needs changing when about half full of poo.
When the surgeon thinks it has all healed up-at her outpatient appointment in a few weeks.,he will arrange for her to go back to hospital and have the colostomy closed up again.(a small operation)
She will be able to enjoy life again!
She should be fine. My dad had surgery for diverticulitis when I was three or four and he's fine now, hasn't had any reoccurences or anything at all. He did have to make some dieting changes though. I'm sure the surgery will clear things up. She might be out of commission for a few weeks since it is surgery and as you get older it takes longer to recover from such things, but after that hopefully she'll be all right. But be careful, it can sometimes be genetic. Just try to eat right and hopefully you can avoid it. I've been having some stomach problems myself lately and can't get the doctors to listen to me. They insist it's heartburn. Good luck and just be there for your mom. Let us know how it goes.
Always get a second opinion, ask in writing before any operation (unless it is an emergency). That is my golden rule.
Ask the Surgeon.
Diverticularis is where the normally smooth wall of the lower intestine has altered so it has many finger like pockets into which faecal material is able to accumulate and rot, producing gas. I think they will cut a section of the affected intestine and then stitch the two end either side of it back together to restore the continuity of the intestine.
Its likely that to access this intestine they will make a large incision into her abdominal wall, so thats at least three times the surgeons will be cutting her (abdomen, and either side of the diverticularis). If she'd like some support during the healing she should try seeing an osteopath a few times before the operation to help put her body into its most advantageous state to not be overwhelmed by the surgical side effects.
I think you spelt diverticulitis correct.. I just can't be asked to go make corrections now..
Diverticulitis usally results from a poor diet, pressure inside the colon pushes out a small section into a small 'balloon' much like a weakness in a bicycle inner tyre tube.
This 'balloon'sometimes becomes becomes impacted with faeces and becomes inflamed.
The examination your mum had was an endoscopy, sometimes called a 'magic' eye, the operation usually involves cutting out part of the colon and is relatively routine.
An aunt of mine had it done when she was seventy and lived to be 85, so don't worry about it.
Plenty of fibre in your daily diet will almost certainly prevent this occuring in anyone, and your mum will certainly be given a 'proper diet' when she has had the op.