Hey! Thanks to everyone on here for giving me such great advice! I just wanted to give an overview of my surgeries for those considering it. I was really afraid of certain things happening through my surgical journey that never even happened.
I was sick with UC for 2 years. 1 of those 2 years, I had severe pain and bloody D and went up to 45 times a day. I tried many meds, none of them put me into remission. I chose to have surgery after my GI said "I don't know how to help you anymore; I need to send you to a university for more tests." I met with a surgeon I drove 3 hours one way to see. She chose to move forward with my surgery and j pouch creation even though there was a chance I had CD. She respected the fact I didn't want to be tested anymore, and scheduled step 1 for June. Because I was so sick, I didn't have to do a bowel prep! No food after midnight but I got a gatorade to drink the morning of surgery. Surgery took 7.5 hours. I only got my colon removed because they didn't have time to make the j pouch. I was disappointed because that now meant a 3 step surgery. I had severe shoulder pain from the laproscopic but my stomach didn't hurt very much because I had an epidural. I had an additional IV placed and a catheter during surgery but no NG tube, no drainage tubes, etc. Recovery was tough but got easier everyday. Within 2 months I felt totally normal again. I was terrified of my stoma, wouldn't change my bag for 2 weeks! I ended up loving it, being amazed by it actually! I never enjoyed dealing with the bag but I did realize after having it that if I had to live with it, I could and be ok with it. My colon tested negative for Crohn's disease so I scheduled step 2! Again, no tests required (other than pre op), no food after midnight, and a gatorade in the AM. I woke up after a 7 - 8 hr surgery with no stoma! My pain was about half of what it was after the first surgery! I could get out of bed right away quite easily. New IV and catheter were placed, but that's it. I am so relieved my surgeon decided to do steps 2 & 3 together! J pouch starting doing what it should, went 19 times at first but the frequency is already down from that a week out! My incision did open up and I have a wound vac on my stoma site and incision but other than that... no complications at all! I ate fast food, chinese, and pizza in the hospital! I'm really doing great!
I thought I'd have tubes coming out of me post surgery, some sort of blockage, excessive ostomy issues, I thought I'd throw up from sleepy bowels, I just thought I'd have to deal with much more than I did! I'm so glad I chose surgery...
Thanks for listening!!!