It's been close to 5 months since I had my colon removed. I have had 5 months of living with a end ileostomy and all that goes with it. The most noteable part of course is the ostomy bag. While living with an ostomy isn't always super fun, I have never looked at it negatively. It literally gave me my life back. For me, caring for and end ileo has been no big deal. I change out the bag every 4 days. I empty about 6-8 times a day, I think. I honestly have never counted.
I don't know a better way to show how I have progressed over the past few months then a couple manly photos. The first is about 4 months after surgery (a couple weeks ago). The second is me back in February right before my colectomy. I’m not quite to the fitness level I was pre-UC but feeling about 1000% better then I did before surgery (gained back close to 30 lbs).
When ever I start to curse the quirks of life with a stoma, I just think back life with UC and there is no comparison. My stoma saved my life. I've gained back close to 30 lbs. I basically can go and do anything I could before I got sick. It takes a little more planning and more trips to the bathroom, but I am so happy I did it. No more accidents, cramps, prednisone, demon diarrhea. The list goes on and on and on. I got to travel to my kids soccer games, go mountain biking, running, go out to eat with my wife and eat whatever the heck I wanted (except popcorn and big salads).
In fact, I was feeling good enough about life with a stoma, that I decided to not make any decisions about future surgeries and at least enjoy the summer. However, like all thing related to UC, what we plan is rarely what we get to do. About a month ago, the part they left in me (aka rectal stump) decided to start throwing some UC temper tantrums. I started experiencing significant blood, occasional urgency almost daily. No Bueno. When I called my surgeon and GI about it, they agreed I probably would want to consider moving to the next step sooner then later.
While I thought I would have to do a lot of soul searching on whether to go with the J-pouch or keep my ostomy and just have my rectum removed and get sewed up, I didn't. I knew that I wanted to try the j-pouch. I know that they don't always work out sometimes you have to go back to the end illeo, which means more surgeries, etc. I talked to a few friends that have the j-pouch and while the both state that life isn't perfect with them, they are glad they did it (one of them even has chronic pouchitis). So here we go. I'm scheduled for surgery on July 17. I'll have my rectum removed. They will trade out my end ileostomy for a loop ileostomy. They will take a portion of my small intestine and make it into a j-pouch reservoir and connect to my rectal cuff. I will then have a couple months to heal and get ready for the final surgery where they stitch up my ostomy and hook up the my new plumbing. Dreading the recovery and pain that goes with it, but excited to be progressing forward on my journey!
I don't know a better way to show how I have progressed over the past few months then a couple manly photos. The first is about 4 months after surgery (a couple weeks ago). The second is me back in February right before my colectomy. I’m not quite to the fitness level I was pre-UC but feeling about 1000% better then I did before surgery (gained back close to 30 lbs).
When ever I start to curse the quirks of life with a stoma, I just think back life with UC and there is no comparison. My stoma saved my life. I've gained back close to 30 lbs. I basically can go and do anything I could before I got sick. It takes a little more planning and more trips to the bathroom, but I am so happy I did it. No more accidents, cramps, prednisone, demon diarrhea. The list goes on and on and on. I got to travel to my kids soccer games, go mountain biking, running, go out to eat with my wife and eat whatever the heck I wanted (except popcorn and big salads).
In fact, I was feeling good enough about life with a stoma, that I decided to not make any decisions about future surgeries and at least enjoy the summer. However, like all thing related to UC, what we plan is rarely what we get to do. About a month ago, the part they left in me (aka rectal stump) decided to start throwing some UC temper tantrums. I started experiencing significant blood, occasional urgency almost daily. No Bueno. When I called my surgeon and GI about it, they agreed I probably would want to consider moving to the next step sooner then later.
While I thought I would have to do a lot of soul searching on whether to go with the J-pouch or keep my ostomy and just have my rectum removed and get sewed up, I didn't. I knew that I wanted to try the j-pouch. I know that they don't always work out sometimes you have to go back to the end illeo, which means more surgeries, etc. I talked to a few friends that have the j-pouch and while the both state that life isn't perfect with them, they are glad they did it (one of them even has chronic pouchitis). So here we go. I'm scheduled for surgery on July 17. I'll have my rectum removed. They will trade out my end ileostomy for a loop ileostomy. They will take a portion of my small intestine and make it into a j-pouch reservoir and connect to my rectal cuff. I will then have a couple months to heal and get ready for the final surgery where they stitch up my ostomy and hook up the my new plumbing. Dreading the recovery and pain that goes with it, but excited to be progressing forward on my journey!
Nice post. Well what can I say is that these is an interesting and very informative topic on living with a colostomy bag
ReplyDelete