Ileostomy Reversal in 4 days..

[Aiyale]

Hello!

I'm scheduled to have my ileostomy reversed this Friday. While I'm sad to see Stewie go, I'm very excited for this because it will mark the end of a very exhausting journey.

I'm also very nervous. Have you had a reversal? What was your experience? Any and all advise is appreciated.

Thank you!

 

[fuzzy butterfly]

Hi Aiyale yep i had a reversal in feb this year. I was abit sad to see hettie go too. She had saved my life n i thought of her as my besy friend.
Then i thought really she wasnt going as such she was just going back inside. Ok i had the op and all went well. No infections etc and was home in a week. I felt tired n drained, and sore but not as much as the 1st op. It was less invasive and a quicker op. The pain after was also a lot milder. And the recovery time quicker. I was back in work 3mths after. I may have gone sooner but i worked at a garden centre and did a lot of heavy lifting. So i wanted to safe than sorry. It took a while for my bowels to settle down and i need to take anti d tablets to slow things down n firm things up a bit. I took loperimide . You will feel and have an urgency to go to the loo and the warning can be very last minute. So go as soon as you feel it. Im now 8mths ish down the line n the urgency can still occur. I have just changed jobs in the last 6wks . I stil work in a garden center but the lifting is less as i now work as a visual merchandiser.
Also if you have resection done, ask your doc to do a check on your bile salts absorbtion as it can be an issue. I have had mine checked a mth or so back n i had severe malasorbtion. N now im on questran to balance it again. If you want to know anything i may not of thought about or remembered please feel free to ask. Best wishes

 

[DJW]

Wishing you a speedy recovery and years of remission.

 

[brendas]

Did u have that for your crohns?

 

[Aiyale]

Did u have that for your crohns?

I had 7cm of my small bowel removed in June, it was an obstruction of scar tissue caused from years of Crohns flares. During the healing process my bowels split (also due to my poor healing from crohns) and caused me to be septic. I had an emergency surgery to reattach my bowels, and my surgeon gave me a loop ileostomy to redirect the BM's so that my bowels had time to heal.

I had one more surgery after that to repair my abdominal fascia, and that was in July. I spent 54 days total in the hospital(most in ICU because I coded during the last two procedures and had to be on a respirator after both of them), and it was another three weeks of home therapy before I was "healed".

It's now been 4 months and I am ready to have my reversal. I had an enema last week with dye (they used a water based solution, not barium. They said that barium isn't used with my history because if there was a hole in my bowel it could have leaked into my abdominal cavity and poisoned me because barium is pretty much like liquid cement.) Everything looked great, but man it was weird to feel my bag fill up with cold liquid!

Two days and counting... tomorrow I start my clear liquids. I'm starting to get very, very nervous. After the hassle of my last surgeries, I really hope this one doesn't have any complications.

 

[brendas]

Did u feel better with illeostomy? I'm think getting one to get off all these drugs

 

[Aiyale]

Did u feel better with illeostomy? I'm think getting one to get off all these drugs

I feel better than I have in years, honestly. I'm currently on Humira and prednisone (but only 5 mg now and then none after the surgery.) I will continue humira after the surgery and hopefully it will keep me in remission.

I was responding really well to humira, before. But the scar tissue caused a complete bowel obstruction, and no amount of meds can make that go away. Surgery was my only option. And after I became septic, the ileostomy saved my life.

So I guess what I'm saying is that I don't know if my well being is due to the ileostomy or just from the removing the scar tissue. I definitely think the ileostomy helps, but I hope I continue to feel great after the reversal.

I've already decided that if my condition worsens afterwards that I can always ask to have my ileostomy redone. When it comes down to it, a bag of poo attached to my tummy is a small price to pay when it comes to feeling "better". But this is coming from a girl who has spent most of this year in the hospital so...:shifty:

 

[brendas]

I hope all goes well for you. Poor thing

 

[fuzzy butterfly]

Wishing you all the best. Hugs love n support to all ..