HealingWell
Search Close Search
☰

Yet another test..Hoping for reversal

Support Forums
>
Ostomies
✚ New Topic ✚ Reply
❬ ❬ Previous Thread |Next Thread ❭ ❭
Posted 2/12/2008 3:23 AM (GMT 0)
Had another barium enema x-ray today..the third in 2 months. I am crossing my fingers that all is healed and I can have my ileo reversed. I am not sure I can take another one of those...I got so clammy and it was more painful this time. Has anyone else had trouble like that with that test? I wonder if it is just because my colon has been out of commission for 3 months and it got all spasmed up. When you have the reversal, is there any prep involved or do you just go on a liquid diet for a few days before the surgery?
Posted 2/12/2008 4:36 AM (GMT 0)
For my second surgery I only had to be on a clear liquid diet the day before the surgery and nothing by mouth after midnight the night before the surgery. There is no need for us to take the other preps as we don't have colons anymore, if they try to have you do anything else, I would question it.

I am due for my takedown in April and will also have to have the barium enema done before they can go ahead with the surgery. Question for you, how is the barium expelled when you have the enema? Do you feel the urge to go? I wonder if they didn't give you too much barium this time and it was stretching the pouch too much? Why have you had to have this test done 3 times? Did you have a leak?
Posted 2/12/2008 7:59 PM (GMT 0)
ok i dont have a j pouch but im just curious. Is this barium enema something required for all reversals? I've never had one as i have alot going on down there and they established n e thing short of a poke with a finger is entirely too painful. My dx is crohns. So i was just wondering if the testing is the same no matter ur dx or if u have a j pouch or not?
Posted 2/12/2008 9:03 PM (GMT 0)
Praying,
I think that this test is performed for those with a J-pouch to make sure there are no leaks before the takedown. They usually don't do a j-pouch for those with Crohn's for the disease could possibly come back in the small intestines. Was your surgery a removal of part of the large intestine that was diseased and they are going to resection it later?
Posted 2/12/2008 9:48 PM (GMT 0)
After my sigmoid resection for diverticulitis, I had a leak at the anastomisis(sp?) and developed an abcess and then a colovaginal fistuala. The barium enemas are to see if the fistula is closed so that can finally have the reversal. I do not believe that most people have a reason to have one if all is going well down there. The fistula is healing SLOWLY and I just sit around waiting for it to close. So far, it has closed all but right by the leak, so I am hoping that I will have good news by the end of the week. I am so glad that I found this site, because reading all of the posts have made this whole ordeal much more manageable. I was very depressed at first because everything seemed to be going wrong when it was supposed to be a relatively easy surgery at the beginning..2 weeks off work. Now it has been three months and I am still trying to get the whole thing wrapped up.
Posted 2/12/2008 11:37 PM (GMT 0)
nope theresa,

My surgery wasnt even for my "crohns" per say,which is why i fought it for so long. there wasn't too much active inflamation. It was the pain, the constant abcessess and fistula that caused me to get the ostomy, i had none of my intestine removed, i'm just giving my bowels a break as my surgeon would put it, so that i can heal. thanks for the info tho because i've heard alot about these enemas.

However, donut...I do have fistulas and an rv fistula as well. I hope urs close because this is a sucky thing to deal with on top of an illness.
Posted 2/13/2008 7:18 AM (GMT 0)
The enema testing is really not too bad. Let me compare the barium enema with the two cold-water enema's I had just prior to my take-down surgery last week. If performed slowly and correctly, the fluid is comfortable and will fill your new pouch and the rest of the small intestine up to your stoma. When it is done, your bag will gently fill with the material. What I found much less comfortable was the 1-3 (I had 2) cold-water enemas performed to clean the pouch up to the stoma prior to take-down surgery. I was already a shriveled up raisin (dehydration) and she asked me to keep that water in as long as comfortably possible.??? You'll see.
In fact, getting the IV needle on that morning was worse than all of it put together... The nurses tend to have a great deal of trouble finding good veins when you are so dehydrated - I was poked all over the place. I do not know why the doctors won't let the IV get started before the prep period.

Do you all know anyone who has had the 2nd surgery (take-down) and has been recovering for more than 1 week?
Posted 2/13/2008 1:51 PM (GMT 0)
JWC,

A good place to ask your question about take down if you have a j-pouch would be at a website http://jpouch.org/. There are a lot of people there that have recently had their takedowns and those who have had their pouches for years.
Posted 2/13/2008 2:11 PM (GMT 0)
Donut,

Myhusband had reversal 2/1 after 4 months of ileostomy.  I think he was on liquids the day before takedown, and we did fleet enemas day before and morning of.  Surgery went well.  After surgery he developed an ileus.  I think that menas the peristalsis was not working some place in the intestines, so even liquids were not passing through.  He couldn't swallow anything.  They gave him Reglan and eventually he was happily passing gas and able to eat a little soup.  His hospital stay was 6 days.  He's home now and doing well.  But recently started a regular (but low fiber) diet.  Now he is complaining of not being able to eliminate but very little, though he always feels he has to go.  We see his doc today.  He's uncomfortable and has a large open wound where his stoma had been.  I pack and change his dressing with no problem.  Good luck to you!

Posted 2/13/2008 2:33 PM (GMT 0)
I am worried about the ileus that I keep reading about. Does this happen often after the takedown surgery? If I had so much trouble with the barium enema after my colon being off-duty for three months, how hard is it going to be for it to start working again. Before my original surgery in November, I had three bouts of diverticulitis, but never really had any trouble with constipation . I hope I don't end up with more problems than I had before this whole thing began.
Posted 2/13/2008 2:56 PM (GMT 0)

I'm new at this.  I just posted a response, but didn't click submit, so I'm not sure it was posted. 

Regarding ileus and takedown, I can only respond to how my husband's takedown has gone.  I don't know of it happens often in this type of surgery.  But his colon was shut down for 4 months, so some difficulties I think can be expected.  It's not like turning a light on and off.  The colon I think needs to be coaxed back to life.  He was given medication, Reglan, to help get the peristalsis going, and it worked.  We will see the doc today, and need to learn how to help get his digestive tract back on track.  Good luck to you, donut.


Posted 2/13/2008 3:15 PM (GMT 0)
Donut,
Ileus can happen after any gastro surgery, just as other complications, but I wouldn't worry about "what if". I've had 2 surgeries and didn't have a problem with my gut waking up. There are different reasons why it happens to some and not others such as it can be due to the constipation effect of pain meds. I've heard that chewing gum after abdominal surgery can sometimes help "wake up" your gut as it has a laxative effect and prevent ileus.

Try googling chewing gum and ileus to find out more info. I will bring gum with me to the hospital for my takedown, but will talk with my surgeon about it first.
✚ New Topic ✚ Reply