Sara bostwis1

Sara

How are you?  Are you home or still in the hospital?

Dan 

Thanks for thinking about me! I was discharged last Saturday. I did end up back in the ER last night because my incision opened up. Good thing I am a nursing student so I am comfortable with the wound packing. It was sad having to medically withdraw for the semester, but my body has been through a lot the past month. I will return to school in May and graduate in December.

I am pretty traumatized from all of these surgeries, but I am hopeful that I will have a successful j-pouch in the future. I won't be getting step 2 and 3 until after I graduate. This means I will have the bag for over a year, but I am okay with that.

Hi Sara,

I just wanted to pipe in, that I had my first of 3 operations in April, the second one in December, and I am assuming my take-down will be in March. That will be 12 months living with a bag and taking care of a stoma every day, unless I have the take-down in April, which will make it one year and one month. I must admit, I'm screaming at freinds that I can't stand it and just want to get rid of it. I am so used to it but I desperately want my own body and body image back. At the same time though, it's long enough time for my thoughts and feelings about it to come full circle. So, all I want to say is that if you have the bag for an entire year, it is really nothing tragic or even depressing, and most of the time, if you are very involved with work and/or studying, which you seem to be, you won't even think about it.