Question for j-pouchers - Meesh, Clicky, SueBear or anone else

How are you doing with Humira?  I started the Humira treatment on Friday and I have been sick with nausea, unsettled stomach and stomach ache since then.  Cannot seem to be able to eat or drink which is not helping at all.   I have an appointment with a surgeon to discuss surgery this afternoon.  I have been living with this flare for 2 yrs now and it is just getting to the point that I am just lying on couch all day long and cannot do anything.   

I had the open procedure but even at that I had minimal pain. I was off morphine by day 2 and off all meds by the time I was released at 7days. I drove on day 8. My incision is about 5-6". Lapro has a longer surgery time (multiple hours) whereas traditional surgery has a shorter surgery time (mine was 1.5 hours). Lapro is a good way to go but the best procedure is done by the CR surgeon who has the most experience, in my opinion. Choose a surgeon who has been recommended by a jpouch patient.

Sue

I completely agree with Sue that "the best procedure is done by the CR surgeon who has the most experience"

Mine was a laparoscopic surgery, and it took around 4 or 4.5 hours if i remember correctly. It still hurt quite a bit, but each day it gets easier. I was off the pain pump after 2 days then on percocet. But like Cathy said, lapro is never guaranteed. Healing time will also depend on how healthy you are going into surgery and if you are on pred which can slow healing down quite.

Good luck and healing thoughts!

i believe melee meant that the laparoscopic surgery is painful just like the open procedure (even though the recovery time is typically less). you might've accidentally read her sentence as "it still hurts quite a bit"

either that or i'm wrong and she probably developed a percocet addiction in the past year!

     After reading this post I have come to the conclusion that I most likely will not be able to have the surgery done laproscopically due to my extended use of prednisone.   Another problem they may run up against is that I have Situs Inversus...all my organs are reversed.  It's like looking into a mirror image.  My GI doctor always has me lie on my left side before doing the colonoscopy whereas normally he has his patients lie on their right side . 

actually extended prednisone use didn't even come into the conversation with me & my surgeon in regards to it being done laproscopically...

i simply had to be on a prednisone taper after both of my surgeries due to the extended use, so my body would recover normally from the surgery trauma.

I am a 3 stepper - with step 3 planned for next week as long as I pass my tests. I am a 3 stepper because of my extended use of prednisone, use of Remicade, and the fact that I was so sick I lost 20 lbs in the 6 weeks prior to surgery. I also have to get a loading dose of pred and taper during and after each surgery. However, after surgery #2 I was able to do a quick taper with no adverse issues.

My surgeries so far have been a hand assisted laproscopic surgeries. For me this meant that after surgery #1 I had 3 lapro scars and 1 horizontal c section like scar (approx 4" wide). I could wear a small (not tiny) bikini and other than my stoma (ileostomy) scars and the 2 small lapro incision scars noone would know. With boy shorts bottoms you would see nothing but my ileo scar. However, since I really don't have the figure for a small bikini, I'll continue to wear my tankini - and you won't see any of them. For surgery #2 of 3 I believe that they only reused 1 lapro incision - and that was for one of my drains. They did expand my horizontal incision to approx 6" wide.

As everyone has said, my surgeon and his NP both told me before every surgery that if anything happened and he didn't feel that he had enough visibility he would open me up and do the surgery open while in surgery. He had the ability and skills to do it full lapro but was more comfortable w/ the hand assist for my specific situation. Just like Meesh - I let him operate the way he felt was best for me and the way that he preferred.

From a pain aspect...I can tell you that for surgery #1 I was very sick going into it. I had general anesthesia and a dilaudid pain pump following along with oxy, Tylenol, and Toradol. I was in a lot of pain in recovery and kind of out of it for the first 8 hours+ and on day 3 had horrid nausea and a bad day compared to day 2. It also took me 5 weeks before I finally started feeling ready to be able to go back to work. The 6th week after surgery I improved by leaps and bounds. For surgery #2 I had a spinal block + general anesthesia. I had no pain pump and only had Tylenol and IV Toradol for pain killers afterward (oxy was offered but not needed or taken until just before the drive home). I walked the night of my 2nd surgery. Recovery was much better and faster and I had none of the nausea and other side effects that occurred when I had full general anesthesia. I'm not sure what they're planning for this round since it is a much shorter surgery but I'm hoping for an even better recovery this time around.

My surgery was open - a 6 inch cut from just above belly button all the way into pubic area.

I had to have it open as I have already had abdominal surgery (laprascopic and laparotomy) so I was not a good candidate for the laproscopic one.  I think they said the op. took 2 hours.

Pain wise - I was on the pain pump for 5-6 days and in hospital 10-11 days (can't quite remember) Had a few issues and needed blood.  I am still waiting for part 2 of 2 - but so far I am so so so much healthier than I have been in years and its amazing what you can do when you dont spend 3 hours in the bathroom every day!  The ostomy is not that bad - and the amazing thing is the low grade fever I had for years is gone as is the constant puffyness of my whole body! Everyone says I look better than I have in years.

Good luck with your decision!