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Reversal surgery?
- Thread starter MKW
- Start date
Hi MKW,
I recently had an ileostomy reversal (5 weeks post op). I guess everybody would respond to surgery differently depending on what you had taken out, disease status, how long you have had the ostomy etc. and you might have also come across all of the horror stories out there on the internet.
I was also scared pre-op reading about people going loo many times and not having control. I had most of my colon removed (the bit of your intestine that helps form stool and absorb excess water) and had ileostomy for about 8 months. Only 5 weeks post-op I feel great and glad I went ahead with the surgery as I am in my mid 20's and wanted to see if I could cope without the bag.
I have made a post with more details about my experience which you can read. Also happy to answer any questions,
Best.
I recently had an ileostomy reversal (5 weeks post op). I guess everybody would respond to surgery differently depending on what you had taken out, disease status, how long you have had the ostomy etc. and you might have also come across all of the horror stories out there on the internet.
I was also scared pre-op reading about people going loo many times and not having control. I had most of my colon removed (the bit of your intestine that helps form stool and absorb excess water) and had ileostomy for about 8 months. Only 5 weeks post-op I feel great and glad I went ahead with the surgery as I am in my mid 20's and wanted to see if I could cope without the bag.
I have made a post with more details about my experience which you can read. Also happy to answer any questions,
Best.
I try to avoid the internet because like you said there's a bunch of horror strorise and I had read a few of people regretting the reversal surgery all together because of excessive bathroom visits. This is very reassuring though so thank you! I've only had it for roughly six months but just wanted some insight as to what to expect.
Yeah it can really make you scared. But no-ones experience can truly predict what YOUR experience will be.
Some key questions to ask is:
Do you mind giving it a shot and see if it works for you and if not then you can always go back to the ostomy?
How much intestine and which parts you had taken out? (if colon is removed expect BM to be watery for a while, they say they small intestine can adapt over time but could take years..psyllium husk which is cheap and easy to get hold of is working great for me),
How often are you currently emptying your pouch? as this seems to correlate somewhat to motions for now
All the best
Some key questions to ask is:
Do you mind giving it a shot and see if it works for you and if not then you can always go back to the ostomy?
How much intestine and which parts you had taken out? (if colon is removed expect BM to be watery for a while, they say they small intestine can adapt over time but could take years..psyllium husk which is cheap and easy to get hold of is working great for me),
How often are you currently emptying your pouch? as this seems to correlate somewhat to motions for now
All the best
So i'll give you the rundown on my experience with my reversal. Again like the others have said experiences will vary patient to patient.
I had been looking forward to my reversal since coming out of the coma and learning I had the ostomy in the first place. I had my ostomy for 1 year and went in for the reversal and was put under only for them to find an abscess in the area of the ostomy so they had to wait a week and try again after treating that. Go in for the reversal and get it taken care of and wake up in recovery with a little bit of pain (as they were managing that quite well) get taken up to the room and i'm on a morphine pump and spent 3 days in the hospital post-surgery. I wore an abdominal binder for a couple months to help the healing process with the midline incision.
For the area where the ostomy itself was they ended up using a wound vac to help close that up. The abscess they found prior to the reversal did play a part in this as there was a large opening. The wound vac did help quite well with the healing. All in all I missed about 7 weeks of work from the surgery. My bowel movements after the reversal were runny and continue to be runny to this day (had the last foot of the small & first two feet of the large intestine taken out)
Good luck with your reversal surgery! If you have any other questions please feel free to reach out!
I had been looking forward to my reversal since coming out of the coma and learning I had the ostomy in the first place. I had my ostomy for 1 year and went in for the reversal and was put under only for them to find an abscess in the area of the ostomy so they had to wait a week and try again after treating that. Go in for the reversal and get it taken care of and wake up in recovery with a little bit of pain (as they were managing that quite well) get taken up to the room and i'm on a morphine pump and spent 3 days in the hospital post-surgery. I wore an abdominal binder for a couple months to help the healing process with the midline incision.
For the area where the ostomy itself was they ended up using a wound vac to help close that up. The abscess they found prior to the reversal did play a part in this as there was a large opening. The wound vac did help quite well with the healing. All in all I missed about 7 weeks of work from the surgery. My bowel movements after the reversal were runny and continue to be runny to this day (had the last foot of the small & first two feet of the large intestine taken out)
Good luck with your reversal surgery! If you have any other questions please feel free to reach out!