Posted 9/1/2011 4:38 PM (GMT 0)
I had my ileo because surgeons had to remove a portion of my sigmoid colon after it had twisted badly enough that it shut itself down. So, I had it for about 3-1/2 months while everything inside tried to get back to normal. While I had the ileo, I probably drank three 8 ounce glasses of milk a day, five Ensures and maybe 6-8 glasses of water. (Realize that I had to gain weight as I had gone from being about 175 lbs before my little health merry-go-round to about 130 at the worst of my condition. My surgeon wanted me to get back to at least 170 before she would reconnect me.) On those days when I drank a little less, I didn't really notice a huge drop in my output. As for how long after surgery things settled down, that's a little difficult to say. about two weeks after my initial surgery, I was back in because dehydration and a partial small intestine blockage. A week and a half after that, I woke up with a severe cough and got tossed back in for pneumonia. During that episode, I also had a prolapse of my ileo, so I had to have a surgical procedure to correct that. So, once ALL those things were behind me, I was pretty well settled with everything. I started walking three times a day for about half an hour each time. I didn't want to do more because I didn't want to be away from a bathroom that long.....just in case. After the reversal, it took about a month for the gas pains to go away, but plenty of walking helped with that. It's been over a year reconnected for me and I am seem to be doing pretty well, even if I do say so myself.