Rectal bleeding appearing 10 days after surgery - please advise

[StayPositive]

Hi All, 

I went through a surgery 10 days ago and got my sigmoid colon removed (high anterior resection). I thought I was recovering well. I had some blood in the stool for the first couple of days and none after that. Since yesterday I am spotting some traces of fresh blood on my tissue. I am feeling worried. This happening in the weekend is very unhelpful for contacting my surgery team. Is it common? Should I go to emergency?

Please advise.

[Budgie]

Hi StayPositive,

You can try calling Healthdirect on 1800 022 222.   It is manned by nurses 24/7, & they should be able to advise you on what to do. 

Budgie

[StayPositive]

Thanks 

[Bianca88]

Hi StayPositive,

I hope you managed to find some assistance over the weekend!! It can be very stressful when things happen over the weekend and you can’t contact your specialist. 

I was hoping you might be able to help me? I had a tumour removed from my sigmoid colon just over 2 weeks ago. I have been extremely fortunate as everything seemed to be going well and my bowel movements pretty normal until yesterday and today when I started getting fresh blood when I go to the toilet.  It sounds similar to what you experienced so I was wondering if you might be able to tell me the outcome of your experience? Im a bit worried as it’s Sunday so I can’t contact my specialist. 

kind Regards 

Bianca

[StayPositive]

Hi Bianca,

I was very worried at that time. In the end everything went well. I found out that some bleeding after the surgery is normal. Only time when you need to really worry is if you have very heavy bleeding (they said half a cup- ie over 100ml), or if you have severe pain. Otherwise, just rest and observe.

A couple of things that I learnt during that time was- 1) Absolutely no straining when passing stool- it may feel harmless but when you repeat it several times, the effect is cumulative. 2) Try to reduce the number of toilet trips if you are a frequent visitor. In my case, I was going up to 10 times a day. Many trips to toilet means the wound does not get time to rest and heal. Using painkillers seemed to help- even if I was not having much pain at all. I found that the painkillers helped the bowel to empty completely and hence I did not have to go to toilet frequently.

I hope you feel better in a few days like I did. If you have more severe bleeding, it will be safer to go to the emergency, hopefully it does not come to that.

[Bianca88]

Thank you so much for taking the time to get back to me StayPositive! That’s very reassuring and helpful!

[Budgie]

Hi Bianca88,

Please be careful using painkillers if you're going to as they can cause constipation.  If you're using them,  it might pay to use some movicol & coloxyl with senna  - easily available at the chemist.

Budgie

[StayPositive]

Yes, painkillers can cause constipation. I forgot to mention, thanks Budgie. It was not a problem in my case as I was taking those in moderation. My surgeon had instructed me not to use movicol or other laxatives. I drink a lot of water- maybe that helped.

[Bianca88]

Thank you Budgie and StayPositive! You have both been a massive help and I’m very appreciative for the advice!