Total Colectomy with temp ileostomy, have some questions

lonesurvivor

Regular Member

Joined : Nov 2015

Posts : 33

Posted 11/5/2015 7:08 PM (GMT 0)

I'm 16 and underwent a total colectomy from UC. My surgeon plans on having my surgery before this christmas, but it depends on the test on my pouch this Tuesday (11/10/15). I am starting my college this summer and I have questions for those who have already had their reversal procedures. Since I will be a college student on campus, how often do you guys have BM's/day? Also, my surgeon has told me that he made my pouch pretty big (bigger than other surgeons would do), and would I be able to hold in my stool (he left part of the rectum in)? And, since I will be planning on going to Med school, I will have to take rigorous courses, and is stress a major factor to trigger other problems even though I removed the source of my previous complications (the colon)? Lastly, is there a high risk of complications (infections, hematomas, etc.) during/after the reversal procedure? I will thank you all in advance for your help!

Pluot

Veteran Member

Joined : May 2012

Posts : 2500

Posted 11/5/2015 11:46 PM (GMT 0)

I'm a medical student with a j-pouch! In short, I have about 6 BMs per day. Typically 0 or 1 during the night, 1 when I wake up in the morning, 2-3 at school (I'm at school for about 12 hours per day though...), and then 1 before I go to sleep at night. I need to urinate more often than I need to have a bowel movement so most of the time it really doesn't affect me, especially on the wards, in the sense that I would be going to the bathroom to pee anyway.

Stress has never been a trigger for GI issues for me and that's been the same story with my j-pouch. In other words, I can't speak to whether surgery solves that problem because I never had it to begin with. Fortunately/unfortunately the only thing that really seems to cause pouch problems for me is eating too much fiber, so if I go crazy with lots of fruits and veggies I might have some problems with urgency over the next few days. Since I'm so busy during the day I tend to err on the side of less fiber and try to get a lot of my fruits and veggies through juice/soup/purees.

I'll let others address your other questions. If you have any other concerns about the j-pouch in school/med school/beyond, I'm happy to answer them.

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