Advice please!

[adrian mcdonnell]

Hi Everyone,
I have just had a flexible sigmoidosopy to see how well or not the recent treatment that i have been on. Unfortunately after going through the chemotherapy and then the stem cell transplant it has not cleared and have been informed 1 hour ago that i will be having surgery.

So! After speaking to the surgeon whilst still a bit haisy from the sedation he informed me that i could possibly have 2 options which are:

1) Permanent iiestomy
2) J-pouch

Basically my small intestine is ok but my colon is almost completely had it.
I would really appreciate anyone’s suggestions and thoughts regarding the two options and how they are different. As my surgery is only 2 days away i am quite eager for this info.


Thank you all in advance and i look forward to being part of the stoma forum!

Adrian.

 

[dragonfly]

i went through this same thing! the difference is
1. permanent ilestomy is forever!
2. j-pouch, which i have, would be removing the bad (in my case was my entire colon) and having an illiestomy for about 3 months (in my case was 3 months) giving the insides time to heal then making a j-pouch inside to reconnect after the 3 months so you would go back to normal bowel habits instead of a bag.
i would go for the j-pouch...i was 15 at the time of my surgery and more than anything just wanted to be a normal teenage girl! i am now about to turn 32 and still have the j-pouch which is still doing great! its your choice what to do but ive always looked at having a permanent bag as my last alternative. this procedure was rough and i did spent the most of them 3 months in & out of the hospital, i had a infection, the iliostomy itself fell in and had to be "fixed" but when the day came to be "reconnected" i was so excited and happy to go back to "normal"!! i wish you the best and hope whatever you deicide that all goes well for you!!

 

[2thFairy]

I would go for the J-pouch first. If it doesn't work out, you can always revert back to ileostomy.