coco_az: 20 years?

I was just reading your posts last month on a thread that was at the top today. What do you mean that pouches have an expiration date of 20 years? None of my doctors said anything about that and I haven't read it anywhere on any website or blog. Is this for all pouches?

Thanks, bostwis1. The idea of having to get a new one every 20 years (well, depending on how long you live) is bad enough, even worse when I think that neither my surgeon nor my GI said anything about it, even after extensive disccussion. What I could imagine is that because it is a construction, some may last til the end of a person's life, and others will indeed fail. Do you have a date for take down?

My take down won't be for another year. I am having step 2 done in December and take down will probably be around March. Things got pushed back because I had to have two additional major surgeries after Step 1 and had to withdraw from school. Now instead of graduating in August, I will graduate in December. I am kind of nervous about this because my wedding will be about five months after take down. Everything has to go perfectly!

Sara,

you've been through enoug so far, that you know you don't need to pressure yourself extra that everything has to go perfectly.
Do do do your kegels every day because your muscles will have been out of work for a long time. I had to put off steps 2 and 3 for months as well because of work.
In the long run putting off graduation for a few months is not tragic at all, although I hear you are not happy about that. Everything we are talking about here is a matter of just a few months - and in the big picture let's be grateful that we are healing.