Otis Boykin. An ink drawing of Otis Boykin from a U.S. DEPARTMENT of Energy biographical sketch of 1979. Otis Bobby Boykin (August 29, 1920, Dallas, Texas â March 13, 1982, Chicago, Illinois) was an American inventor and engineer.
Without any fluids (either as sips, ice chips or intravenously) people with a complete bowel obstruction most often survive a week or two. Sometimes itâs only a few days, sometimes as long as three weeks. With fluids, survival time may be extended by a few weeks or even a month or two. With a bowel obstruction, things may go better than expected, but itâs important to prepare for sudden, unexpected changes.
Just because you don't have a bowel movement every day doesn't mean you're constipated. Some people have a bowel movement two to three times a day, others every three days. If you go for more than three days without one, however, your stool may harden, making it more difficult to eliminate. In rare cases, new or progressively worse constipation may be a symptom of another, more serious problem, such as colorectal cancer or medication toxicity.