Good by Colon, Hello Perm. Ileostomy

But I am am a little scared that I wont heal very fast , I know everyone is different, I think I should do ok but I am still scared. I am taking my son to the beach June 16th, Do any of you who have had this done , think that I will be healed up good enough to go? It will be a little over a month. I wont be doing anything crazy or stressful, just relaxing on the beach and sight seeing.

I have already paid half of the hotel bill and I dont want to loose the money by canceling , plus we have promised him for three years we would take him and we are just getting settled enough with money to go.  if i have to i will postpone the surgery untill after we get back.

what do you all think?

I had my surgery at the Cleveland Clinic.  I was hospitalized for a week.  My surgery was right before Thanksgiving and I spent that week worried about having Christmas gifts for my family.  Anyway, I got home on a Friday and rested that weekend.  Starting on Monday, I spent 6 hours daily, for four days, at the mall Christmas shopping!  LOL  I felt great!  (I was 42 when I had the surgery.)  I had been so sick before and now I had energy.  My Mom went with me to carry the packages though and to drive me there.  On the fifth day, (the following Friday), I had to go back to the Clinic to have 89 staples removed.  They couldn't believe how well I was doing. 

On New Year's Eve, which was six weeks after my surgery, I had forty people in for a big thank you party for all of their help.  I had been in the hospital for five weeks before the surgery and these wonderful people helped my husband with our three children.

So, I surely think you will be able to rest at the beach!  I'd be sure to ask the doctor about going in the water, though, that soon after surgery.  Once you are completely healed, you can do anything.  I have a swimming pool and am in it all of the time.  I go to the beach, travel around the world, and I've even been snorkling and parisailing!   You'll have your life back.  I'll keep you in my prayers.  I know that God gave me the ability to heal so rapidly.  

Hi, T Jane.  I had Dr. Victor Fazio do my surgery.  He is chairman of the gastric surgery department at the Clinic now, I believe.  He was wonderful.  I also believe he was the one who developed the J-Pouch surgery.  They really know what they are doing at the clinic.  The ET nurses are great too. 

You will be just fine.  Keep a positive attitude.  That and prayer has been proven to really help in illnesses.  I had to wait an extra week for Dr. Fazio to get back to the Clinic.  He was in Spain training doctors in various gastro-surgeries.  When I finally met him, I told him that God gave me the best doctor on earth.  He replied that God had given him the best patient on earth! 

Another thing...I was told to let my family and friends know that they wouldn't be hearing from me for a couple of days...that I would be "out of it."  But, that didn't happen either.  I got back to the room at 11:30 at night.  I slept and then woke up around 7:00 AM.  I sat the bed up and called my husband, my mother in Florida, and my neighbor!  LOL  Now I can't promise this will happen with you, but with a positive, "nothing will keep me down," attitude, you usually do much better. 

One last tip because this is getting long and I don't want to bore you.  As you probably know, they don't take the NG tube out of your nose until they hear gastric sounds in the intestines.  Well, as I said before, I had been in the hospital for nearly 5 weeks and had been on TPN...no food to eat!  I had heard that if you start thinking about food, it will get those gastric juices flowing, so I brought along magazines that had wonderful recipes in them.  After surgery, I pulled those babies out and started reading them and getting hungry.  By the third day after surgery, the NG tube was gone and they started me on a liquid diet!  I was eating regular food a couple of days later. Best of luck on your surgery.  I will be wonderful to get your life back.

Sherrine 

You will be in my thought and prayers, kiddo.  I can't wait to hear YOUR success story!  Hope we hear from you real soon.  God bless!

Hello I am new to this board, My fiance now has an ileostomy. after many years battling with cronhs desease his quality of life has been an amazing improvment. i have a couple of questions i was hoping maby some of you could answer for me:

1. its been 6 months since his last surgery (he had a hard time in the hospital he ended up having 9 total due to infection and the small bowell resection came apart) he still cannot stand to have it touched and isnt comfortable raising his shirt or looking at it, i was wondering if the pain he feels is common or more likly to be a more psychological thing (he went through alot of pain in the hospital and was pretty much constantly in pain) was the pain of the inscision a long term thing for any of you?

2. we are planning a vacation to mexico this comming june. He wants to still be able to go snorkeling and swimming in the ocean but is worried about it being a "floatation device" any tips? Also how does the seal hold up in the ocean? Have any of you heard or tried a "swimming cap" for it?

Thanks alot!

Sherrine