After bowel surgery

My husband has just had a cancerous tumour removed from his small intestine, the surgeon tried keyhole but had to resort to open surgery, 30 staples. He's home now and it's 9 days later. He's been very sick and has awful diarrhea anytime he eats, which is very little. Does anyone know how long these symptoms will last? 

  • Hi REID-,

    Welcome to Cancer Chat. I'm sorry to hear that your husband has been struggling. It's difficult to advise on your question - your husband's doctor would be best placed to do this, so do give them a call if you haven't already.

    You are also welcome to call our nurses if you'd like to talk things through. You can reach them on freephone 0808 800 4040 - Monday-Friday, 9-5.

    I hope that you can find out more and that things improve soon.

    Wishing you all the best,

    Ben
    Cancer Chat Moderator

  • Similar happened to me - I spent 4 weeks. in Hospital after needing to move to Full surgery. I also had a stoma but it took a long time for my bowel to a) wake up and b) get back to any consistency. It's important to east very small - I literally started with half a nibble of a biscuit then moved onto soup, ice cream and very slowly built up. Being home allowed me to eat little and often which helped.  It still took a further week to 10 days to start seeing improvement.

    I see your post was 14 days ago so hopefully things have improved - but speak to your colorectal team and take things slowly.