Surgery Date

Well I finally got my date for my surgery today, one week from tomorrow. July 12, seems too soon... I'm so not ready and yet I am. Lots to do on the home front before I go in. Try to take it one step at a time so to speak so I don't have some huge freak out before hand. Ha Ha I probably will anyway!

YAY for being healthy soon!

This is the last july 4th you will spend with UC, and coming up on the last prep you will ever have to do!  woo hoo!

Quick reminder, be sure to wear your normal, everyday clothes to your marking, and good luck!

I'm a new member. I posted some suggestions which might help you know what to expect, during your recovery. I posted a new thread, tonight, entitiled 'One Year Post-Ileostomy Surgery'. Best of luck with your surgery. 4Grace2U

good luck! I'm going in on 11th for a perm ileo! hope it all goes well for you.

     Wonderturd....love that name..LOL !  You will be fine!  I had my total colectomy with end ileo June 28th of last year.  My surgeon didn't require me to do a prep either and I couldn't believe my ears!  All I had to do was stay on a clear liquid diet for 24 hrs before my operation.  Just for good measure though I adhered to the liquid diet for 48 hrs.

     A word to the wise.  Don't try to eat too soon.  My surgeon told me to listen to my body.   My operation was on a Monday before the 4th of July.  One of his residents, who apparently had duty the 4th of July and wanted to clear her patient load out for the weekend, told me I could eat that Thursday.  I ate alright and that evening everything came up and they had to put that nasty ng tube down into my tummy again .  My surgeon was livid that his resident even suggested I eat when I wasn't ready.  I can still remember the taste of my lemon cake coming out....hehehe.  I may never eat lemon cake again .  I had a few blips but I had a terrific surgeon and I never once regretted having the operation.  Wouldn't you know though that the day before my operation I finally had a normal looking bowel movement, no blood, no mucus, no urgency, for the first time in almost two years.  I just waved it goodbye and said..."you ain't gonna try to fool me out of having this operation!"

     The best of luck to you, stay positive and I will be saying prayers of healing for you.  God bless!

hi wonderturd, i hope all goes well on the 12th - also to Ironmum hope everything goes well on 11th. - i was so glad when my dr said there would be no prep before my end ileo op - just fast from midnight - sure with what we've been thru that was a doddle - i decided to take a good look at all my wounds & new external plumbing as soon as i could,, for 2 reason,s 1) i was mad curious to see & 2) i reckoned it all would look its worst on the day after the op & it would become more beautiful as time went by - i'm not sure i've achieved a beauty rating just yet but its not at all bad either !!

best wishes to both

Yay! So glad you have a date. Waiting is so hard.

How funny! My bms started to be pretty normal right before surgery too. Actually, my surgeon said my colon looked pretty decent when he took it out too. I knew it was just the Remicade talking, which I definitely wasn't willing to stay on since it was more painful than UC for me. As soon as that was out of my system, I know I would have flared again. With prednisone no longer working and with the inability to handle Remicade, things would have gotten very ugly I am sure.

My butt incision actually healed beautifully despite being on prednisone. It was the abdominal one that caused me issues. You just never know how it will all go exactly, but you will heal up. Once it was all behind me and I was able to look back on the experience, the whole surgery journey seemed to take place in the blink of an eye. I didn't feel that way when I was in the middle of it though. Patience is key.

I taped a pouch onto myself after my stoma placement too and filled it with applesauce just to get the real effect. I laugh now because I put a ton of applesauce in there. I would never let my pouch fill up that much:) Then I tried on all my clothes just to reassure myself that, yes, the stoma would be in a good location. And it did end up being absolutely perfect... I can wear all my clothes with no problems at all.

I love how there is no urgency at all with an ileostomy (well... unless perhaps you have a stomach bug or something). It is crazy how much time you have to empty. I will notice my pouch is around 1/3 of the way full and can wait at least an hour before emptying. Quite the difference from UC where sometimes you have ten seconds notice. The other day I climbed a peak and my pouch was getting sorta full as I neared the summit. I thought... nah, this isn't the best place to swap it out. I will just wait another hour until I am down in that valley. How awesome is that!!!

I think you will be happy with your decision. I won't lie... it is hard at first and things can be really overwhelming. I had some very down moments in the initial months. But after you learn how to manage your appliance and and figure out your body's own unique patterns, things are very good.