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Cancer > Colon Cancer Forum > Colon Cancer: Post Surgery Medical Staples Inside The Body
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Q: Colon Cancer: Post Surgery Medical Staples Inside The Body
asked by: HenryT on September 14th, 2007
New User
My brother survived stage 3 colon cancer 5 years ago. He has many surgical staples still inside his body from reconnecting his colon. He frequently needs to lie flat to be comfortable, and avoids eating food in the morning so we can go to work and feel ok. He believes his problem is due to the possibly hundreds of staples he still has in his body. Can the staples be causing his discomfort? Can staples be removed since his colon is healed?
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MandMs
replied on October 9th, 2007
Extremely eHealthy
Hi!
Sorry for the delay post!
Due to surgery of colon cancer, colon and rectum or both are having changed anatomical structure. So, the patient can experience changed bowel function.
One of the main goals after colon or colon-rectal cancer's surgery is to have high quality of life by getting control of bowel movements.
Because, parts of the gastrointestinal tract are removed with the surgery, there is a shorter tract for absorption the liquids and that's causing a shorter transit time of food trough the GI tract and changed consistent of stool. This results in having more frequent bowel movements per day. Normal healthy people, usually have maximum three stools per day, but patients after colon cancer surgery are having more then that in form of diarrhea.
Another problem is an inability to fully empty at one specific time.
Your brother should have one big meal( a big meal causes a push down the GI tract to make room for the food taken in and helps emptying the colon fully at an expected time each day) and 4 small meals.
He should avoid taking liquids during the meal because this will cause more voluminous mass in his tract and shorter transit time through GIT and having frequent bowel movements. It's better to drink liquids between meals.
Because, GIT's absorption function is impair,using a medical fiber can slow down the transit time. Fiber taken right after a meal in very little fluid, can soak up excess fluid in the digestive system and thus slow things down.
He needs to avoid certain foods(spicy foods, sweets, high-fat, hot liquids,some fruits and vegetables), because he'll have increased bowel movements.
Hope a helped a bit!
Marija
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HenryT
replied on October 16th, 2007
New User
Marija - this information was very helpful and confirmed what he is doing now to slow things down. Taking fiber is a good idea to reduce the liquid. Thank you very much for your reply to my post.
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