Weight loss and gain in between surgeries

Hello all, my first of 3 surgeries is quickly approaching. Wondering if anyone who has had the 3 stage surgeries can tell me a little about weight loss and gain in between all the surgeries. Just wondering what to expect. Thanks!

It's different for everyone and it also has to do with where you are starting from... To summarize, for me, in lb:
pre-UC: 145
post prednisone: 150
pre-surgery #1: 110
pre-surgery #2: 135
pre-surgery #3: 120
post-takedown: 120

So as you can see my weight has been all over the place in the past year and a half... I could NOT gain weight to save my life (it's a figure of speech but kind of true!!) during the worst of my flare before my surgery. I ate and ate and ate all day, only the foods I could tolerate (white grains and boiled chicken), and just kept losing weight until I hit 110, my all time lowest weight since reaching my adult height at age 12. I also had quite a round belly from being on prednisone for so long, so my limbs were skeletal while I kept a thick pad of belly fat (plus fat in my face, but that probably didn't weigh very much).

After surgery #1 I tapered off the prednisone pretty quickly -- the belly and face fat went away but at the same time I gained back weight all over, steadily for the next four months while I had the end ileostomy. I gained 25 lb in four months so I guess that's about 1.5 lb per week. With the end ileo I was finally able to eat a variety of foods without pain and because almost all of the small intestine is left intact, I had no issues with absorbing nutrients and calories from the foods I ate. I had a surprising amount of energy and was able to go running a few times a week during this period.

While I was in the hospital for surgery #2 I lost a lot of weight, and I kept losing until my takedown. A large amount of small intestine is taken "offline" during surgery #2 -- the part that is used to make the j-pouch as well as a few feet that are "downstream" from the loop ileostomy -- and as a result my digestion became very fast. Basically like having diarrhea all the time. I took a lot of loperamide (Imodium) but I still felt weak and tired most of the time and it seems I just couldn't absorb the calories or nutrients I was taking in. I ate like crazy during this period and didn't exercise (didn't have the energy), but I still lost some weight and went into the hospital for takedown at 120.

Since takedown I feel like things have stabilized. I have way more energy than I had before the last surgery and I feel, instinctively, that I am absorbing the foods I eat much better. I have less diarrhea and I don't have to take any bowel slowers like Imodium. I feel that I eat normal healthy portions now (instead of wanting to stuff my face all day) and I have enough energy to exercise 3-4x/week. As an aside unrelated to weight, that keeps me mentally healthy too

I don't know when or if I will return to my pre-UC weight. I am a bit of a special case because I was a serious weightlifter before I got sick, and a lot of the weight that I lost was muscle, not fat. I don't know if I will ever go back to that level of weightlifting or that amount of muscle -- although I enjoyed doing it, I always did it with my health as my #1 priority, and I think the hernia and prolapse risk now outweigh the benefits of being super strong.

Yeah, focus on one surgery at a time or it will feel overwhelming. You will be surprised how hungry you will feel once you are passed the initial recovery from the surgery. While I was in the hospital I wasn't very hungry until the last day. I remember on the way home from the hospital I was starving. I had my surgeries in Philadelphia so I made my hubby stop and get me a famous GINO'S cheese steak sandwich. OMG it was so good. I only ate a quarter of it but it went down fine. Once my rotten colon was out, food agreed with me again!

I never worried much about a blockage. I just made sure I chewed my food well. Now I don't even give it a second thought. Keep us posted! :)

I was 125 pre-surgery and pure muscle. I purposely wanted my body to be ready with stores of energy.
Post first surgery: 115
Bowel obstruction in first week post surgery: down to 108
Abcess (huge) diagnosed end of week 2 after surgery: 103 lbs.
At 5 weeks post surgery and with my husband force feeding me, often harassing me to eat, 108lbs.
Another infection this week, week 6, and lost so maybe 106 :( boooo.
Someone said they were scared of bowel obstrucyion-do be. I have FAP so infections are rare (UV, chrohns mme likely) but the problem is everyone wrote off my symptoms and didn't monitor me because: they saw me ordering food (couldn't eat any of it. Week one lived off Italian ices and applesauce), they saw me walking, Im FAP, 38 yrs old and on no meds, no other health conditions, I was fit.

They basically didn't do their jobs. I've learned from my new surgeon that the abcess caused the blockage. The infection caused the bowel to swell and block. By the time they stuck an NG tube in it emptied 21/2 buckets of content.

When they diagnosed the abcess (only because they were going to release me and my dad asked for a blood test first-wnc count was 19! 5-10 normal. The scanned me and put a drain through my glut muscles into my pelvis. As soon as drain was in all bloody diarrhea (they said this was normal) stopped and even though my but hurt like hell, I info stele could eat. Immediately.

They said it was normal to have so much bloody diarrhea I couldn't get off toilet. Every time I twisted it squeezed the abcess and it would drain through rectum/j pouch
They said eating like a bird was normal. I couldn't eat hardly at all. My parents were yelling at me to eat and had the hospital put me on a calorie count. Yet no one gave me TPN (IV nutrition). When they put the drain in for the abcess I ordered breakfast and immediately started eating like a normal person!

If you have to wobble or move side to side to eat- you might have a blockage or abcess.

If you put solid food in your mouth (mine was eggs, bread) and you immediately spit it out - blockage.

Fluid pressure in pelvis like you have to oee, but they keep ultrasound in and telling you their is no urine. Coupled with sacrum or lower back pain- more a constant pressure. Bloody diarrhea that's like a faucet (if abcess is still open to j pouch)... you might have an abcess.

Abscesses won't show on ct Scan for 5-7 days. It took a further week for wbc to rise. Eating symptoms plus wobbling plus rectal pressure (I wore depends because abcess bled so much and the pressure when I sat was unbeatable. I had to start leaning to the left. Eventually I couldn't sit)plus constant low grade fever (mine was 99-99.9 for a week but they blew it off because I looked ok).

These are symptoms to be aware of. I felt fluid pressure but never thought of an abcess. I kept telling g them to put a catheter in.

KNOW YOUR BODY. I also recommend going in fat-not muscular. Gain weight because you'll lose so much.