Will surgery have long term effects?

[Mummychicken]

I have had it confirmed I have bowel cancer and am waiting for surgery to remove my colon. This will leave me with an ileostomy- stoma and bag - permanently. Will this effect the absorption of thyroxine? Any other effects I should be aware of?

[Nanaedake]

Very sorry to hear you have bowel cancer and wishing you a speedy recovery from surgery. I cannot give advice as its beyond my knowledge.

[Hidden]

I'm sorry you have bowel cancer but the person you need to ask about the thyroxine is the doctor, either the surgeon or your own GP. I would guess that the thryroxine will still be absorbed though, as thinking about it logically, you'll still be absorbing what you eat so you'll be absorbing any medicines too. Does that make sense? They couldn't possibly do an operation like that and leave you with no way to absorb your food and medicine is absorbed in the same way unless it's injected or a patch.

[humanbean]

Your surgery will have lots of effects on your nutrient levels, for a start.

I just found this :

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl...

Quote :

The human colonic microbiota is a large and complex microbial community. In total, over 1000 bacterial species have been identified of which many remain uncultured, with about 160 species being found in the gut of any individual [1]. The gene set of the gut microbiota (the gut microbiome) is estimated to be about 3 million genes −150 times larger than that of the human genome [2]. This large and diverse microbial community has an equally extensive metabolic repertoire that complements the activity of mammalian enzymes in the liver and gut mucosa [3]. The gut microbiota makes an important contribution to human metabolism by contributing enzymes that are not encoded by the human genome, for example, the breakdown of polysaccharides, polyphenols and synthesis of vitamins.

End Quote

depts.washington.edu/ceeh/d...

Quote :

The bacteria in the microbiome help digest our food, regulate our immune system, protect against other bacteria that cause disease, and produce vitamins including B vitamins B12, thiamine and riboflavin, and Vitamin K, which is needed for blood coagulation.

End Quote

Obviously your doctors must be aware of this problem with people who lose their colon, so the people to discuss it with is them. At least they can't deny you have a problem if you have your colon removed!

Good luck with your surgery, and hope it goes well.

I found the above links by searching for the following :

"action of microbiome on vitamins"

[Fruitandnutcase]

Gosh, poor you. Good luck and a speedy recovery with the operation Mummychicken, like the others say your doctors ought to be able to answer your questions or else I know that the CRUK helpline has experienced trained nurses available to help answer your questions so it might be worth emailing them.

[Ajaeger]

My dad had a permanent ileostomy and stoma due to very sever ulcerative colitis. He died a couple years ago, but had his bag for over 30 years. He had many, many health issues unrelated to his colon ( heart/bp/kidneys, etc) and was on many, many medications over the years. I recall many times his meds that were in pill form were not able to even dissolve before they passed into his bag. Sometimes the coatings weren't even worn off the outside of the pills. He was never able to take extended release pills or anything with a harder coating. You will have to take special care to tell dr's and pharmacists that you have an ileostomy and need medicines that are absorbed very quickly. My dad didn't have a thyroid issue, so can't directly answer your question if Levo dissolves quickly enough. I'm sorry to hear of your diagnosis. Good luck with your surgery. It took my dad some time to get use to wearing his ileostomy bag, but he was so grateful that he had it done as it caused him very little issues and relieved him of the intense bowel pain he had been suffering for years prior. Take care.

[Mummychicken]

Thank you to everyone for taking the time to reply. As you can imagine I am asking lots of questions and trying to be forearmed but it is still daunting! I have to hope there will be a very knowledgeable doctor who can join up all the dots for me. I suspect it will be several and I just hope they all talk to each other!

Very grateful to you Sally.

[Mummychicken in reply to Mummychicken]

That should say “all” no idea where Sally came from!!

[shaws Administrator]

First of all, I am very sorry that you've had that diagnosis and send my best wishes for a swift recovery.

It would have come as a huge shock but am sure you will recover relatively quickly. If members have experience they will respond when they read your post.