My Reversal is Scheduled!

April 15th is the day. I'm happy to lose My Little Buddy, but scared at the same time.
Waiting to hear from my other doctor re:warfarin, and when to stop it. Does anyone have any experience with that? I'm on warfarin because I had blood clots in my lungs back in oct.
Otherwise, my head is spinning and my heart is pounding! :)

Don't know anything about warfarin but I just wanted to wish you luck. :)

ks1905 said...
I can't wait for my reversal, this loop ileo has been kicking my butt. I have 2 more months before I am reversed. Good luck with your surgery.

Yeah, that loop is a pain in the a**!

Everything's been moved back a week...now it's April 22. Oh well, ten months into it, so what's seven more days. Not the end of the world, but still had my pre-op yesterday. Actually the few extra days worked well, so I can get off the warfarin...things are a bit more smooth

well, I really like that fact that you call your ileo "my little buddy"!. With surgery for a perm ileo in 2 days ( !!!!!) I need that reassurance. Good luck on you reversal- hope it goes smoothly for you!

Hi Jody. I see today is your reversal. I hope you have a smooth surgery and you're up and about soon. Post back and let us know how it went.

*Sigh*
Update;
Be careful what antibiotics your doctor gives you. Yes, I was able to have my reversal and things in that regard have gone well.

However, in my post above, I slightly mention having caught C. DIFF, never realizing that weeks and months later I would still be fighting it off!!
I've had a round of flagyl, a round of vancomycin, (2 weeks of each) and another round tapering off over six weeks of vancomycin. If this doesn't work, I'm not sure, but my doctor mentioned a fecal transplant from a heathy donor. (Yes, it's exactly what it sounds like and sorta has me un-nerved)

I'm at my wits end, as the last dose of antibiotics was Saturday and I'm already feeling like it might be coming back!
This is a terrible disease that they seldom tell you about. I can't even describe what I've been through before they got it at least partly under control, it was SO HORRIFIC!

C diff is awful, I had it in the middle of a UC flare once so I can totally relate. You're on a 6 week course of vanco now which is good.

The problem is the spores that set up camp in the gut keep shedding so it can take a long time (and a lot of antibiotics) for the meds to get a hold of things and really start fighting off the actual culprit.

I know the fecal transplants sound gross and are hard to wrap your head around, but they have been shown to have anywhere from a 90-95% success rate. There has also been no documented cases of any other infection transmission or severe side effects (of course this is with properly tested donor stool - not cases involving the self treatments at home).

I can only imagine how upset and frustrated you must be having to deal with all of this when you were so close to the end. Just try to hang in there.

Make sure you do a fantastic job cleaning. The spores can get on things and potentially re-infect. Despite how gross a stool transplant may sound, they really do have terrific results. Better than any antibiotic available and so far have been very low risk when performed correctly. Some people even do them on their own and have not had problems. However, I'm not sure if there's any data on a stool transplant in an ileoanal reservoir patient. I don't foresee issues, probably just use a smaller amount.

Jody,

I am so sorry to hear about your struggles with C-diff. C-diff is what collided with my ulcerative colitis and caused an eventual full colon removal and temp. ileostomy. (Not sure I will be doing the takedown for my jpouch or not yet). But, I wanted to tell you about a new antibiotic used for me when my c-diff would not respond to vancomycin. It's called dificid. It is very expensive, but my insurance luckily covered it after I failed the vancomycin course. Dificid supposedly helps cut down on the reoccurrence rate of c-diff. I also was at the point of almost trying a stool implant; however, when they removed my colon, they said the c-diff went with it. Only 1% chance of getting it again. I hope you get some relief soon! C-diff is HORRIBLE! I make all my family be on probiotics when they are on antibiotics now.