I am new to "ostomies" just learned I need Colectomy

Of course I am scared to death; scared of the risk of surgery and the pain afterward.  My doc said he did not know if he would do a one step or two step surgery to get me a jpouch.  The prospect of two major surgeries and two week long stays in the hospital scares me even more.  He did not seem to want to discuss the factors used in coming to a decision of how many surgeries he would use.

How bad is it when you "come to" after surgery?  Do they do a decent job of keeping you relatively pain free afterward?  If you must use a temporary Ostemy appliance (sorry, I don't know the names of everything yet!) .. Is it hard to do even if you are a bit of a "klutz"?  I understand they make you walk soon after surgery but when you get home a week after surgery, are you able to walk up a flight of stairs (to bedroom)?  Are you able to stay out of bed most of the time?  How long until you could go grocery shopping or take a cat to the vet?

This entire thing boggles my mind.  I have not had symptoms like many here so I don't have the elation of finally being free of something.  I feel fine now ... that is the problem!  I had a regular colonoscope that showed some cancer cells, no polyps but some cells in one or more of the biopsies they take.  My doctor says that even though only a small area of the colon is afected, the logical thng is to take out everything.

Any info or answers would be appreciated.

Mark N

Hi there!
Well i had my first step of a 2-step on Nov. 16. They told me i would probably have a one-step, but of course they got in there and realized they couldnt cuz my small intestine was too short to do it all at once, it needed a nice big stretch for a few months. Thats the difference between the two procedures, the one step is if you have a long enough intestine to make it all work at once. I was bent over for about 7 weeks after surgery, i think partly cuz of the stretching and partly because i had some complications that had me laid up for a month, so my back was all messed up!

As to waking up, i had an epidural, and REALLY recommend that. I woke up and was REALLY nauseous, i remember waking up as they wheeled me out of the OR, but they just gave me anti-nausea drugs, 3 of them, and i was right as rain. No pain at all for me. In fact my legs were numb on day 2 so they stopped the drip and just had me on T3...not the best drug but alot easier than having a needle in your back no matter how flexible it is! As to being up, yeah the first day they get you up, and you need to mentally prepare for pushing yourself cuz you are not gonna want to walk, but you have to. Its the only way to push the gas out and start the healing process. As to walking up stairs, it is rough at first, i would plan on setting up camp on teh first floor for a bit. As to staying in bed, DONT! I ahd problems cuz i was soooooooo dehydrated and it made things worse. So WALK, CHEW, and DRINK constantly!

Youll be fine, one step at a time. Dont over think or it will be worse, but you have to prepare yourself all the same. Definitely go to the www.j-pouch.org site, just keep in mind most of the people are having issues, so its not a fair assortment of people on there, most of the people who have the surgery are out living their lives and not on the support groups. Good Luck!
~Eileen