‘It Changed My Life’: Colonic Inertia Sufferer Hails Transformative Bowel Surgery
May 03, 2026
Kara Ann Lombard suffered for decades with a debilitating bowel condition. Then she met JHAH colorectal surgeon Dr. Rizwan Ahmad, who performed a minimally invasive procedure that gave her back her life.
The problems started when Kara was about nine years old. “I struggled severely with constipation, and it was painful to go to the bathroom,” she recalls. “I was a very skinny little child, but when I was about nine, I started piling on weight — even though I rarely went to the bathroom. I didn't know it at the time, but this was the start of a long and painful journey that would stay with me into adulthood.”
Through her teenage years, Kara tried to lose weight but found it hard. “All my sisters — all five of them — were wonderfully slim and gorgeous. And then there was me.” In her twenties, Kara went through a yo-yo period of losing then regaining weight, never quite being able to get down to the weight she desired.
When Kara was 23, her sister invited her to a two-week yoga retreat, where she ate only vegan food. “I felt better going vegan food and I managed to lose a little weight on the retreat. Red meat had always made my condition worse, even though I loved it — but I decided to give it up altogether. In fact, I had to eliminate a lot of foods I loved.”
At this point, Kara was going to the bathroom just once every 10 days. Even if she took laxatives in large quantities, they failed to alleviate her condition.
Kara, who was born in Zimbabwe, moved to Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, when she was 29 to take up a job with Aramco. Then, in 2015, things “started getting really bad.” Kara visited her sister on holiday in Mauritius and was hospitalized because she had not visited the bathroom in 17 days. When she returned to Dhahran, she tried using a food supplement called Oxy-Powder — but it was eye-wateringly expensive, especially given that she needed to take it in large doses.
“Then I started getting severe abdominal pain,” Kara recalls. “I started having to visit the Emergency Room. In one year, I visited the ER about 12 times. The pain had become unbelievably bad. I felt like I was dying. I could barely eat.”
Doctors struggled to diagnose Kara’s condition. Eventually, she was referred to Dr. Rizwan Ahmad, a consultant laparoscopic and robotic colorectal surgeon at JHAH.
After a careful review of her medical history and investigations, Dr. Rizwan immediately ordered a colonic transit study to examine how Kara’s bowels functioned in real time. With a colonic transit study, a patient swallows tiny pellets containing special “markers” that are detected by X-rays, allowing clinicians to monitor the transit of food all the way through the digestive system. The study takes place over the course of a week.
After the test was complete, Kara met Dr. Rizwan in his clinic, where he explained in detail the implications of the transit study. He gave a diagnosis of colonic inertia and detailed what could be done with medication and surgery.
With colonic inertia, the colon — the longest part of the large intestine — is structurally normal, but functions poorly. Patients can suffer from constipation, bloating, rumbling and discomfort; sometimes intense pain. It can impact their social and working life, with some patients forced to take time off sick whenever their condition worsens. Medication, which can cost as much as $5,000 a month, has only a partial effect and does not offer a cure. Likewise, diet and lifestyle modification can ease the condition but never cure it.
Kara’s surgery took place three weeks after her colonic transit study. She underwent a laparoscopic subtotal colectomy, a minimally invasive procedure whereby Dr. Rizwan removed about three quarters of her colon.
“With this procedure, you remove a large part of the poorly functioning colon, after which the body adapts the function of the remaining part of the colon,” Dr. Rizwan explains. “This remaining part then begins to function almost as effectively as a healthy colon. Most patients will then come completely off laxative medication and start on a normal diet.”
Dr. Rizwan, who has performed more than 1,200 colonic resections in his 16 years at JHAH, uses a minimally invasive technique that requires only tiny incisions, thereby reducing the risk of scarring that could have caused Kara further problems.
“Minimally invasive surgical techniques bring huge benefits to patients,” Dr. Rizwan explains. “For colonic inertia sufferers, it greatly lowers the risk of creating internal scar tissue that might later cause internal blockages — which could put a patient back in hospital. Minimally invasive techniques also help patients to recover much faster, and with far less external scarring.”
After a week in hospital, Kara was discharged. Within three months, she was able to eat as she pleased — pain-free and without laxative medication.
“It changed my life,” she says of the procedure. “Now I live like a normal person. I eat what I want, when I want, within reason.
“I’m so grateful to Dr. Rizwan. I’m healthier, I sleep better, and I can control my weight. And you can barely see my scars! I have such a feeling of awe about him and his work because he changed my life.”
Kara believes there should be “a lot more awareness” about colonic inertia because “it’s so often misdiagnosed or not diagnosed at all. And it can cause sufferers intense pain, not to mention all the problems you get with diet and lifestyle.”
She adds: “I really don’t mind talking about it. It’s not embarrassing to me because we’re all human and these things can happen.”
Indeed, after recovering from her procedure, Kara ran into a colleague who reported many of the same symptoms she had suffered. “I told her to book an appointment with Dr. Rizwan immediately,” Kara says. “She underwent surgery with Dr. Rizwan, and I’m delighted to say she’s very well now — and loves to talk about how lucky she was to run into me that day!”