A family member has been hospitalized with mesentary embolism. It has been a long road, surgery and now ileus...the poor man is a mess.
Any explinations would be appreciated.
Sharon
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The mesentery is the vascular system of the gut. An embolism can be a blood clot, a chunk of plaque, or a foreign body.
If there is an arterial embolism to the mesentery, it is a life threatening event, necessitating emergency resection of the affected portion of intestine. The symptoms start out the same as a severe obstruction.
An embolism in a vein causes less severe symptoms and less damage, but surgery is still likely necessary.
The fact that he survived the event and surgery is great news. The entire gut can be traumatized, similar to peritonitis, so yeah, recovery can be tough, and lots of adhesions can form. If much small bowel was removed, it can make it tough to sustain nutrition.
At leadt he is on the mend now.
Jan 
Thanks Jan
They had him on very high doses of anticoagulants for 10 days and then finally took him to surgery...now he is still on an NG tube and suffering but like you said, he survived (5.5hr surgery).
Keeping fingers crossed
Sharon