Sickness & diarrhoea post surgery. Help please.

[Jim]

Hi all,

My Mum (73) has been home for 2.5 weeks following a successful radical distal pancreatomy.

However since she was discharged we are concerned she is not recovering in the way that she should, in fact going the other way, due to the constant sickness and diarrhoea which is leaving her so weak to the point she's been in bed for the last 4 days. I have a feeling her stomach is in a state of 'shock' after everything but this means that all her meds, Creon, Penicilllin, Codeine, omeprazole etc aren't getting to work properly not to mention the food she is losing every time. The resulting weight loss is a big concern.

How can we stop the sickness & diarrhoea to start with & will the stomach mechanism correct itself naturally?

Help very much appreciated.

Cheers

Jim

[J_T]

Hello Jim, sorry to hear your mum is suffering after her operation. I have no knowledge about this but would urge to to call one of the specialist nurses, Jeni or Dianne in the morning on 0808 801 0707. I am sure you will get good advice if noone comes forward tonight.

Best regards

Julia

[sandraW]

Welcome to the forum Jim, sorry can't help but as Julia says ring the nurses on here their advice is invaluable, hope Mum improves soon take care sandrax

[nikkis]

Hi Jim,

Welcome to the forum. My husband Paul had a Whipple and then a pancreatectomy 2 weeks later last year, and for him the recovery has been tough, and he has been readmitted several times. Vomiting was an issue for the first 6 months, and diarrhoea is still a problem, but he did have 2 ops and they didn't get all the Cancer, so things were particularly bad, and we never know what was a result of the Surgery, Chemo or Cancer!

As far as the vomiting goes, it can help to have a very soft diet, soups and mashes that can be digested easier. Changing Paul's antibiotic to erythromycin helped with the vomiting as it also makes the stomach emptier quicker, but can make the diarrhoea worse, everything is a balance and trial and error. As far as the diarrhoea goes the message is you can never take enough creon!

It is the most major surgery you can have, and 2 1/2 weeks is early days, but hopefully your Mum will turn the corner very soon. As Julia and Sandra have said the nurses here can give you lots of advice,

Best wishes to you and your Mum,

Nikki

[Jim]

Many thanks for your replies. A week on and we think mum is going in the right direction and that is down to the invaluable help of the specialist nurse on here advising about medication and importantly the Creon. Mum has worked up to currently 300k Creon per day with regular meals. The upsets are still there but less frequent and we now know that she is benefitting from a large part of the nutrition. Post operation nutritional guidance at hospital was unfortunately non existent with regard to Creon but fingers crossed mum is now turning the corner.

Jim

[LMD]

Hi Jim

Just read your post and really pleased to read your mum is improving...

All the best

LMDx