“Having a section of colon removed. What is the recovery time for this?”
Due to IBS problems, I am having a section of my colon removed. About how long will I be under anesthesia for this procedure, and what is the general recovery time? Also, will there be a lot of pain involved afterwards?
6 Answers
A hemicolectomy procedure is under geta and could be up to 3 or 4 hours. Depends upon surgeon and your condition.
Firstly, you should not have surgery for IBS. IBD is a different story and can need surgery. Most surgeries are now done with small incisions using laparoscopy or robotics and most people stay in the hospital only for 1-3 days with a quicker recovery.
Depends on the surgeon, location, your health, how much colon is removed, and what types of programs your hospital has set up, such as ERAS (enhanced recovery after surgery).
You will spend a couple of days in the hospital. Back to normal several weeks later.
The anesthetic time will be just greater than the surgery time. The length of the surgery depends on whether the surgery is done open or laparoscopically and whether you have had previous abdominal surgery. Recovery from the general anesthetic is rapid, but you may have some sedation from your post-op pain medications. Amount of pain depends on how the surgery was done and each person's individual pain tolerance and previous experience with opiates, smoking, marijuana use or other street drug and alcohol use.
With this question, there is lot I am not able to tell you exactly. Your age, general health, and other medical conditions, the length of bowel being resected, and if on steroids or other similar immuno-suppressive agents may affect recovery time. The general anesthesia time is unknown because it will start just before your procedure and end slightly after the procedure. If you have never had any problems with anesthesia before, and if you have good general health, the recovery from the anesthesia portion should be relatively quickly. Some patients experience some nausea, and sleepiness depending on the length of the procedure, agents used, etc.
Hopefully this gives you some answers, prior to your operation, the surgeon and anesthesiologist typically will meet with you directly to discuss this. Please raise these questions with them. Good luck on your procedure.
Hopefully this gives you some answers, prior to your operation, the surgeon and anesthesiologist typically will meet with you directly to discuss this. Please raise these questions with them. Good luck on your procedure.
