Diverticula are small, bulging pouches that can form in the lining of your digestive system, usually in the lower part of the large intestine (colon). In Karin Lynn’s case, these pouches became infected resulting in the diverticulitis.
Diverticulitis can be a painful condition, causing symptoms such as:
- Severe abdominal pain
- Fever
- Nausea
- A marked change in bowel habits
Sometimes it can be treated with medication or lifestyle modification, but it can also exacerbate into a more severe medical condition that requires surgery, as was the case with Karin Lynn.
Emergency Colon Surgery for Diverticular Disease
On the evening of July 14, Karin Lynn’s pain became so severe that she was forced to go to the Emergency Department at her local hospital in Ocean County. The ER physician there examined her and recommended emergency surgery.
After Karin Lynn consulted with Dr. Fiola, she arranged for her to be transported by ambulance to CentraState Medical Center in Freehold, New Jersey, where Dr. Seun could evaluate her and personally perform surgery.
Colon surgery for diverticular disease is typically a one to two-hour operation. But in Karin Lynn’s case, it unexpectedly turned into an extended five-hour surgery. Multiple internal issues discovered during the procedure were expertly corrected by Dr. Seun:
- He performed a sigmoidoscopy (where the surgeon inserts a flexible fiber-optic tube into the rectum to examine the lower portion of the large intestine or bowel) and discovered a fistula (a permanent abnormal passageway between two organs) growing between Karin Lynn’s bladder and intestine, which he removed.
- He removed several feet of abscessed intestinal tissue.
- He removed an enlarged appendix.
A General Surgery Patient Reflects on her Surgical Care
“Had Dr. Seun not carefully examined my entire colon and stomach region, I would have definitely been back in surgery within a few months,” Karin Lynn recounts.
She noted that if she had not undergone the surgery when she did, she would have certainly had septicemia, (blood poisoning, in which bacteria invades the bloodstream and circulates the infection throughout the body) or been forced to use a colostomy bag at just 46-years-old.
Karin Lynn spent four days in the hospital recovering but, remarkably, by July 28th she was free of all pain medications and eager to get back to the job she loved.
A Diverticulitis Emergency Resolved
Since her emergency general surgery, Karin Lynn has changed her eating habits and continues the walking regime Dr. Seun prescribed just days after her operation, losing 28 pounds in the process.
“I can’t begin to express my gratitude to both of these fine doctors,” Karin Lynn said. “If it were not for their immediate call to action and their detailed evaluation of my situation, I don’t even know if I would be here today.”
With Karin Lynn’s shining endorsement of Dr. Seun, her 65-year-old mother will undergo revisional bariatric surgery with him in September.
More About Dr. Seun Sowemimo, MD, FACS
Dr. Seun is a top NJ bariatric surgeon and the medical director at Prime Surgicare, with offices in Freehold serving Monmouth and Ocean counties. He is board-certified, Columbia and Yale University fellowship-trained in advanced laparoscopic, bariatric and general surgery.
To learn more, visit his YouTube channel or call Prime Surgicare at (732)-982-2002.