Posted 1/7/2016 1:44 PM (GMT 0)
My questions are, is this follow up usually with the surgeon? Yes.
And do you find out when your next surgery is after the follow up appointment? Usually yes, but it depends on the surgeon and how his office schedules things. If you're healing well with no complications, it's likely they'll set the next surgery at your follow up.
And when does the 2nd surgery usually take place? about how many months after the first one? My surgeon said his protocol is to wait a minimum of eight weeks, but ideally at least 12 weeks. I ended up going ~3.5 months between surgeries because that made scheduling easiest.
Lastly, is the second surgery usually the harder to recover from? What should I expect after the operation that is different from the first operation. Yes, the second surgery was the hardest recovery for me. The first surgery was all laparoscopic for me but I had a 'bikini' incision with the second surgery, so that was a new challenge to heal with, and I also had some pain 'in the butt' (sorry, no other way to put that!) from the rectum removal and j-pouch stapling. It's also worth noting that I was on steroids when I had my first surgery, so I received high doses of steroids during the surgery, which quite frankly make you feel *awesome*. The second surgery was more of a typical feeling like crap post-surgery experience for me.
Most people find the loop ileostomy harder to manage. There will usually be more output that is more liquidy. I was very comfortable with my equipment for the end ileo and I needed to change some things for the loop ileo so that was a frustrating/learning experience. I also needed to take Imodium to manage my output and stay hydrated. Finally, I had recurring partial obstructions while I had the loop ileo -- loops are under a lot more tension because they're "attached" inside you at both ends, and therefore more likely to obstruct. I never had to be re-admitted to the hospital but I had to be more careful about fiber in my diet and deal with occasional abdominal pain when obstructions cropped up.
The time between the 2nd and 3rd surgery was definitely not a fun one for me overall, I felt worse than I did between the 1st and 2nd surgeries and I also had a lot of anxiety about what would happen to me after takedown, if I would still have obstructions, if I would still have tons of output, etc. Ultimately my takedown went VERY smoothly and overall my pouch has worked great now for years. Keep the long term in mind and remember that even if the 2nd surgery is difficult, it gets better!