Takedown surgery was a success HELLO J POUCH!

I'm having mine in July. Congrats

I did mine in 3 steps. 1st was in June of 2017 waited till Feb 12th of 2018 for step 2 just bc I wanted to enjoy my holidays, build my body back up etc, and then may 14th was my final. My surgeon wanted to wait 12 weeks between step 2 and 3 I know some do quicker

Hoping for a smooth recovery.....let us know the ins and outs of your next actual meal 🤓

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Haha I'm usually out of it for the first 2 days haha. No I'm still on the hospital haven't been allowed to eat yet. Surgery was on Monday they wanted me to pass gas or go before they Fed me. I did have two pretty solid turds come out which was shocking to me haha. So hopefully food is tomorrow. My surgeon likes to proceed with caution so he is always an extra day or two when it comes to going home or eating dairy and stuff like that. I expect to be here till Friday or Saturday

That's lovely. I actually had some tough times in the beginning. Things started flowing and it flowed. The dark side consisted of butt burn, getting up in the night, frequent trips, but none of it like UC. I never felt like I was unable to manage getting to the bathroom, or worried about an accident. For me, most of the issues I dealt with initially have dissipated. The one thing that I do dislike is getting up to go in the night. I would say my pouch has about a 4 hour capacity, but it depends on when and what you eat. Generally I will have to get up once in the night. It isn't my favorite but I would have gotten up to pee anyway often. It's weird because during the day, I literally go before a shower at 8, and sometimes I don't go again until 3pm, but at night, I usually have a more active situation. I am sure it's all to do with what I eat. Anyway, the other part of the darkside is noise. I will have some crazy sounds when I empty sometimes. I love single stall bathrooms. I can rip it out in 10 seconds or less and move on. I also use a lot more TP than I used to. I wipe way more than I should. I use some creams on my butt pretty regularly, I clean the bowl regularly. All that, but I don't spend much money or time at all on any of this. I also don't go to doctors. I don't need drugs or blood tests, no more monitoring, no chance of CC. There are definitely pluses and minuses, but overall, I am very thankful to feel like the future is full of opportunity. I would have never said that while living with UC. Of course everyone's situations are unique and I can only speak for me.

First night home was a success. I ate lunch at the hospital and took the 2 hour car ride home from Philadelphia to Scranton PA with no issues whatsoever. I felt I had to go about 30mins from home and casually held it in till I got there. Sleeping without a bag is AMAZING I forgot what it's like to just relax without worrying about it filling up or leaking. I slept a whole 8 hours woke up with no accidents and went to the toilet and did my business. I know it's early and I'm eating bland food and small portions. But as of this moment I'm very happy with my new set up. I'm sure there will be some.issues along the way such as butt burn and urgency when I add food but I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. I was going 30 times a day with UC and constantly emptying my bag and checking it and worrying about it that 3-7 bathroom.trips a day is a breeze!

I usually have to go ~5-6 hours after I eat, as well as 12 hours after I eat. It's pretty predictable and crazy how it works. Getting up between 2-5am (Which I do) does suck but you get used to it.

Awesome. mine is not that predictable. Sometimes I go sooner, sometimes later. I do however have plenty of time to get to the toilet I definitely had horrible butt burn for quite a while, and I used my bidet a ton. it sounds like you have the perfect outcome! I notice younger people seem to move on quicker and have less trips overall.

Valli, I hate to say it but don't expect it. Rarely do i sleep through the night, most jpouchers still get up once a night so the norm I'd say is a few hours, up quickly, back to bed for more hours. Still better than UC days.

As long as I empty my j-pouch before I go to bed, I almost never get up in the night. My kids wake me in the night, but not my j-pouch!

That's great. I guess that's how it goes for me too. If I overeat, I will have an extra trip or two, but the trips are quick, painless and controllable. It sounds like you're doing really great though. Have you had to use anything for butt burn? I was having a lot of burn early on. I tend to eat a lot of food with spices though, but other things can cause burn, like tomatoes for some people... I stopped coffee while i had UC, but since surgery, I drink it again. So silly that I convinced myself coffee was a source of trouble.

Everything's going great and I can finally drink coffee again. I'm looking to try some new foods eventually and I'm wondering what everyone's experience is. I'm DYING for an Italian hoagie with salami and capacola. Anyone have experience with deli meats like that?