Time for surgery

When's your surgery date? Are you a canidate for a j-pouch and if not just curious why? Good luck to you and i hope your surgery and recovery goes smoothy.

Best of luck to you. I had the surgery about 2 years ago... It was the best decision for me personally. I am happy I did it at an age where I was a good candidate for a j-pouch. I did it in three steps, probably same as you will. It was a long process from beginning to end, but it goes fast & you can live life well between the steps. You will do great. I hate to sugarcoat it, because accepting that you will go to the bathroom more often is not ideal, but the trade-off for me is the ability to hold it, something I couldn't do for quite a while leading up to surgery. It's not like i was incontinent, but bathrooms were a consideration in everything I did and everywhere I went. I no longer live like that. My life has vastly improved since surgery.

The expense in money and time for all the tests, drugs, appointments I dealt with living with UC, the effort to take all those pills/infusions & the long-term consequences of steroids and drugs... I don't miss any of it. Traveling with all that stuff was a chore too and I couldn't travel regardless because of the concern about toilets... It was just no way to live. Too unpredictable.

Aba, there are many case reports of people with severe UC getting higher than normal doses of Remicade at the beginning in order to respond to the medication. The thought is that severe UC 'uses up' the Remicade quickly and more drug is needed for a positive response to occur. After the UC gets under control, a more 'normal' dosing of Remicade is enough. Not every place will do this, though. Have your doctors considered giving you more than the standard loading doses before giving up on it?

If you can't try that, either because of doctors or insurance being unwilling, then good luck with the surgery. I hope it goes well, as they usually do.

3 time champ, keep us informed on who you use in NYC and why if you don't mind.

3timechamp,

Threadjacking here but what is your criteria for choosing a surgeon? Number of J-pouches created, insurance, wether you like the surgeon, hospital?

I've meet both of the surgeons that you've mentioned, let me just say that I wouldn't want to have a beer with either one of them. I had Michaleassi as my surgeon, he's a nice guy but a little rough around the edges but very talented with lots of resources. I was very well cared for under Michaleassi.

The colorectal floor of NYP is amazing, private rooms, clean, quiet and new, which is the exact opposite of Mount Sinai. I hated Mount Sinai the two times that I was there for flares.

Don't have surgery around a holiday weekend or July 1st unless you really have to. The new class of residents come in on July 1st and they are very nervous and inexperienced; the nurses took charge and made sure that they did everything went smoothly when I was there July 1st.

Glad on your successful surgery. I hope you have a fast recovery. Make sure to walk as they ask you to for best results.

Congrats Aba! Healthy healing wishes to you.

I am happy to hear things went well. Get lots of rest & start trying to get on your feet as soon as you can, that will help get things moving and get you out of there.