Inoperable perforated bowel

[Caddycat]

A relative has a perforated bowel which the doctors won't operate due to his poor health. Has anyone got any experience of this condition healing itself? Prognosis with an operation already sounds poor and I just want to know whether I should get ready for the worse.

I am so very sorry. My FIL had the same diagnosis earlier this year and we were told that he would not survive the operation (he had not that long ago battled cancer which had left him very frail) and that all they could do was provide pain relief. I hope you have a better outcome.

I'm really very sorry but I don't think an inoperable perforated bowel, if that's def what has happened is something that can be recovered from. Infection/sepsis would usually set in quite quickly. Sorry.

Thank you both. They haven't located it on scans, but they won't operate as he is too frail after a cancer operation earlier this year. He is on no food or even drink and intravenous antibiotics to stop/prevent an infection.

I'm sorry but that sounds like something he will not recover from.

Yes they will rest the bowel, give antibiotics, and hope it heals. Sometimes that can happen, but it really depends on why the perforation happened and whether infection sets in.

I think it might depend on the size of the perforation. I had an attack of diverticulitis while on a cruise ship and was thrown off into hospital in Greece. I hadn't had antibiotics soon enough before that, and had a small abscess and perforation in my bowel. I was on a drip, antibiotics, and nil by mouth for about ten days and it did heal itself up. I've had colonoscopies since and it does seem to have healed. So I wouldn't lose hope.

my dads bowel perforated in September, he also was in very poor health before this so they didn’t want to operate. In the end they had no choice, they ended up putting him in an induced comer after the surgery and he eventually passed away at the start of October. I really hope your outcome is better than ours was. Take care xx

Yes it is possible to recover. Depending on the size IV anti biotics/IV fluids and often a naso gastric tube to rest the bowel allowing it to heal. Sadly, not all people so recover but, I have cared for many different patient's in this scenario.