SURGERY FOR UC - J-POUCH OR COLECTOMY???

Hey All! This is a great forum..I'm looking at having surgery after 15 years of fighting..just can't deal with the Pred anymore.... So, I'm just wondering about folks who have had the J-Pouch surgery....what is a "normal day in the life" for a J-pouch recipient? I've been leaning towards the colectomy, but the dr.'s/surgeons seem to be pushing me towards the j-pouch for some reason? What do you think? Those who have had a colectomy and wear the "bag on the outside" are free to chime in...

Thanks!

I've had a j-pouch created, but I am currently waiting for the takedown. So right now I have a loop ileostomy.

Life for me is, well, normal again. I have all my energy back, plus some. Yea I have to go to the bathroom a little more than the average person, but I only spend about 5 minutes in there, so I don't even think about it anymore.
I work a normal job with an hour commute (yea I'm looking to move closer to were I work, lol). I can eat whatever I want. I can drink coffee again :D

Yea the first couple of weeks after surgery you will feel like you've been hit by a train, but the one thing I did notice after I woke up was my stomach didn't hurt. It was weird really, because I kept expecting to jump up and run to the restroom (well, hobble to the restroom lol). The bag thing takes getting used to.
And prednisone. It was awesome being off that crap.

But after awhile you get stronger and feel better. You look back at yourself before surgery and realize how bad off you were. My fiancee took pictures of me the day of my surgery. I had no body fat and hardly any muscle; you could see all my bones pretty much. In fact, my fiancee was able to wrap both of her hands around my upper thigh. I went from being 185lbs to being 110lbs within 8 months.
If I didn't have the surgery, it is probably safe to say that I would have died.

i chose a perm ileo because i didn't want more surgeries, and honestly i never wanted to poop the "normal" way again! i wanted to go in, get my bag and get on with my life! that being said, the jpouch surgery is great for some people, it just depends on what you want from your surgery. etiher way if you have UC, you are cured! i remember waking up, this was my train of thought, "i feel clean, OMG this (many bad words) hurts, upon looking down and seeing the clear bag, what did i do? then "i feel clean, im better, i can have juice, OMG this (more bad words) hurts, morphine please! and then a few hours later, i wasn't wondering about what i did, once i found out that the poop wasnt always going to be neon green and smell like swamp water and that i would get bags that weren't see through, i just started thinking, i can have juice, i can have pizza, i can have a cheeseburger, i'm hungry!
anyway i started rambling, lol.
And you know what, you are still fighting! this is the ultimate win! literally taking that colon to the trash! showing it who's boss! please don't ever think of it as giving up!

The right decision is different for everyone. My son, being 19 and very active with sports and dating etc, did not want an external pouch and chose the J pouch route. For him, even though he had a rough go between surgeries, it has turned out really well. However, a lot of people are VERY happy with their ileostomy and are not willing to take the risk, and obvious pain and recovery, of another surgery. For them this is the right decision.

You asked about a "normal day" with a J pouch. Dillon is now almost a year post his take down and, as we have been told, this is probably as good as it is going to get....which is pretty darn good. He has about 5-6 BMs a day but the number varies greatly depending on what and how much he eats and drinks. He hardly ever takes immodium or metamucil and says the the number of BMs do not bother him. When he gets the "urge" he can easily hold it for an hour or so and visit the bathroom at a time that is convenient for him. His trips to the bathroom are both painless and quick. A lot of nights he is up at least once but he also eats and drinks a lot during the evening which is part of the problem. But again, the BMs are so quick and easy that some mornings he does not even remember if he got up in the night or not.

     My ulcerations were always confined to the rectum.  Actually, my colon only had mild diverticulosis, so I felt a little upset about having to have the entire colon removed too.  My surgeon would not do a j-pouch on me because of age and extended use of prednisone..he said I was too high of a risk.  My surgery lasted 1 1/2 hrs.  I had some blips and still have some "issues", such as bleeding from anus because he left that intact, but overall am sooooo much better.  Only take one pill a day compared to the 17 - 25 pills daily and rectal meds .  Unfortunately, prednisone left me with osteoporosis.  Just too much of that stuff over the last twelve years.

     OH...by the way....the bag is a cinch!  No problems whatsoever!