UOAA Discussion Board

Any man able to help would be appreciated. I am a long term female ostomate. My male neighbor was diagnosed with rectal cancer. After chemo and radiation he still needed to have a colostomy and his rectum removed. His surgery was just done on April 27,2021. He is very upset because he is experiencing erectile disfunction and numbness when he urinates. I am hoping his nerves are still in shock and everything will return to normal soon. If you have any thoughts or words of wisdom I can share with him I would really appreciate it. Thank you.

Hi Soul i have an ilieostomy and 3yr.ago i had resection surgery due to scaring from crohns disease and i dont think i had any reaction down there for at least a month, but i didnt have cancer or radiation treatment so his case is differant, and also it,s also early on from his surgery.

Hi soulful,

One of the unfortunate, well known side effects of having the perineal resection is the loss of sensory innervation to the nerves around the rectum. It's a very intricate surgery, and sometimes those nerves are cut/removed when the rectum is removed. If damaged, peripheral nerves can regenerate, but they also may not, depending on the damage done, blood supply to those nerves, etc. The process of peripheral nerve regeneration can be very slow. Your friend definitely needs to report these issues to the surgeon, but unfortunately, sometimes, this is a complication with this type of surgery. Hopefully this is temporary....

David