Guila, When my daughter woke up from surgery she was a little emotional about
having the temporary ostomy, but was able to get use to it within a few days. She really liked the fact that she didn't have to keep running to the bathroom. Before we went home, UCSF gave us a list of foods to avoid along with a list of good foods. We stayed with these items for 6 weeks and started to introduce foods. She was able to eat all normal foods as she did before her illness.
She is doing great now. She is back in school and was able to go back to playing softball again. Before her UC she was very active in sports. It is nice as a parent to see her enjoying life as a teenager should.
She now has her Jpouch and is doing well. She is eating normal foods again.
Recommendations before sugery: Dr. Varma is pretty good about
explaining the procedure, but doesn't give a lot of information unless you ask. May be that some patience really don't want the detail. Unfortunately, my daughters 1st surgery wasn't planned. They actually transported her from Sacrament to San Francisco to have surgery.
You can email her at
[email protected] with any questions you may have for her. She does chat with people on a forum (not sure which one), she will be happy to answer questions you may have or if you just need to talk to someone, we didn't have this opportunity to do prior to surgery. Her experiences have helped a lot of people with their UC and decision towards the surgery. We had a family friend that struggled for years with UC and he and his wife created a website www.jpouch.net that site has great stories. If you go to this site look for Brevin as he also had Dr. Varma as a surgeon.
Hope all goes well for you.