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Takedown Tomorrow - Final Step!

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Ulcerative Colitis
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Posted 9/17/2018 11:22 AM (GMT 0)
Tomorrow I have my final surgery and give the UC chapter of my life one final roundhouse kick to finish it off. I’ll say goodbye to my stoma and hello to the j-pouch. I have been reading a ton about what to expect. It d really does sound like it is a little different for everyone. I’m curious and anxious to see what mine will be like. I’m trying to be as prepared as possible. This is what I’m currently geared up with:

1. Bidet mounted to the toilet (it’s not the heated kind, I though I’d try the less expensive more refreshing version first smilewinkgrin )
2. An industrial supply amount of calmoseptine lotion
3. Flushable wipes
4. Big boy diapers.
5. A barrel of Metamucil fiber. This has been my go too for thinking up the stool while having an ostomy, I’m hoping it will work as well with the j-pouch.

Any other last minute recommendations?
Posted 9/17/2018 11:46 AM (GMT 0)
4 weeks tomorrow that I had my last surgery. Discuss with Dr how you deal with loose stool. Be careful to not bind yourself so much that u create a blockage. I ended up back in hospital for 36 hrs but they cleared it very easily. Butt burn isn't fun so be prepared. Be careful what u eat. Low fiber is way to go. Just keep reaching out here for advice. You'll be fine Good luck
Posted 9/17/2018 12:58 PM (GMT 0)
Hope all goes well in the end 😁

q
Posted 9/17/2018 1:25 PM (GMT 0)
I am excited for you, wishing you well tomorrow. It is by far the easiest operation, its been a little over a 5 weeks for me. If you like spicy foods have it today, anything remotely spicy will cause you great pain coming out.
I am in the process of installing a bidet right now, I use a hand held plastic bottle to rinse my back door.
There were a few days I wanted my bag back, going every hour during the night isn't fun what so ever which has caused me serve butt burn and a few large hemorrhoids.
But overall I am thankful everyday for my new J pouch and I have had no accidents unlike my UC days.
Posted 9/17/2018 1:50 PM (GMT 0)
Good luck! When you feel well enough, let us know how it went!
Posted 9/17/2018 1:54 PM (GMT 0)
Good luck tomorrow. I think your list is great and you sound prepared!! I'm counting down the time until I have my final surgery in November. turn
Posted 9/17/2018 7:34 PM (GMT 0)
Wishing you luck tomorrow! Hopefully it's an easy adjustment for you. I wouldn't get too caught up in consistency or frequency until you're a couple months out. It is too soon to know what to expect a few weeks from surgery.
Posted 9/17/2018 8:34 PM (GMT 0)
You have a good list there. I never ended up needing anything other than the Calmoseptine ointment. I was fortunate and had an easy transition. Wishing you the same! No matter what though, usually the first two weeks are a bit crazy so just keep that in mind. Home stretch for you....woohoo! Best wishes!!!
Posted 9/17/2018 11:24 PM (GMT 0)
Hope all goes well!
Posted 9/19/2018 3:50 PM (GMT 0)
Surgery went great! Surgeon said he was really happy with where the pouch was resting and was very encouraged with the whole deal. I will say, when I woke up it felt like Chuck Norris had just gave me a roundhouse kick to the gut - Super Achey. This morning the pain is much more manageable. I had some cottage cheese and applesauce this morning. about a hour later, for the first time in 7 months - I went poo poo in the potty! I feel like I deserve an award (We would giveour kids a starbursts when we were potty training them). I apologize if I’m being too light-minded, I think the Oxycodone is affecting more then my pain right now.
Posted 9/19/2018 5:01 PM (GMT 0)
Sounds good ..... meds included! 🙄👍👊😁

q
Posted 9/19/2018 5:59 PM (GMT 0)
Cheers and congrats! Are your sure your surgeon wan't Chuck Norris, did you get a good look?
Posted 9/19/2018 8:15 PM (GMT 0)
I am glad it went well!

If you have concerns, this is a great place to ask questions!
Posted 9/19/2018 10:43 PM (GMT 0)
Run I'm going out for Starburst for u. And a star for your cap for being part of class of 2018. Congrats
Posted 9/20/2018 5:41 AM (GMT 0)
There may be times that you eat something that doesn't agree with you and you may feel like its UC all over again. I promise that its not like that every day and by far overall it's an amazing life compared to UC or a bag. Once I hit the 3 month mark things got Much easier and I'm told it'll even get better. I'm active again, going to sporting events and just golfed 18 holes for the 1st time in 2 years. No accidents at all for me. Everyone's different and you're experience may be different. I just turned 27 I had my first surgery when 25 so It feels amazing to get back into life after being locked up in my room or hospitals for so long. There will be annoying times and butt burn sucks but you find what works for you and it'll work out! Good luck and stay positive
Posted 9/20/2018 7:12 AM (GMT 0)
Glad all went well.
Posted 9/21/2018 2:39 AM (GMT 0)
Thanks for all the tips and well wishing. My surgeon wasn’t chuck Norris, but I pretty sure he was trained by him. He has been awesome!

I made it home this afternoon! It’s been a bit of a whirlwind as I was expecting. The part I wasn’t as prepared for is packing the wound where my stoma was a couple times a day. The process is pretty painful and gross. I’m hoping the nerves will settle down soon. I also did not anticipate it being such a deep crater. Yikes it’s deep! Anyway, great to be home. I’ve been putting the bidet and calmoseptine to good use, mostly just preventative at this point. Now it’s time to put on my patient cap and heal. Netflix anyone?
Posted 9/21/2018 4:34 PM (GMT 0)
Welcome home! Hope everything continues to go smoothly!
Posted 9/21/2018 8:03 PM (GMT 0)
Happy to hear you're home. I had to cover my wound for a while, but the surgeon said it's good to keep it open. Mine wasn't closed and it looked like a bullet shot, but it actually healed fairly quickly. The first few days it was moist and i kept a big bandage over it, after those initial days, it dried, and I didn't need to cover it with anything. It took a few weeks before it scabbed and closed, but it was faster than I thought it would be.
Posted 9/21/2018 9:33 PM (GMT 0)
I have large hole. It's over 4 weeks and it still is not closed. Yea it's deep. Yea it's big. Yea it's nasty looking. Just get small gauze with saline on it. Put it in hole then cover. It's simple. Saline on gauze keeps gauze from sticking to wound. Biggest obstacle for me is getting stool more formed and not 100% Big D where I'm going 10-20 day with butt burn. Imodium with Lomotil has been my lifesaver. This past week has been best week as far as me being able to get out and supervise/work. So let us know how stool is doing. Hope your resting. Be well

Post Edited (3timechamp) : 9/21/2018 3:47:01 PM (GMT-6)

Posted 9/21/2018 9:55 PM (GMT 0)
This is how mine looked at about 1 month. It healed pretty fast. It was an open circle to start.
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Posted 9/22/2018 7:01 AM (GMT 0)
I had a long skinny deep wound which closed up pretty quickly. The pain I felt during changing the gauze went away after about 2 or 3 wks
Posted 9/22/2018 2:08 PM (GMT 0)
I’m back in the hospital, dang it. Early Thursday morning I started feeling super sick. Barfing, non stop diarrhea. Something wasn’t right. We jumped the car and headed to the ER (in Salt Lake). I could gone to a closer one but I wanted to be at the hospital that I had my surgery at so they know better what might be going on. By the time the admitted me I was like a shriveled up prune, so dehydrated. They pumped me up with fluids, pain killers and Zofran. They did a CT scan. My doc said it looked like my intestines were “angry”. They did a stool test to rule out cdiff. Now we are just scratching our heads to see what’s going on. It’s been over 24 hours now since I had anything to eat or drink. They said if I barfed again, the will probably want to do an NG tube. Noooooo! Trying to stay positive here but, feeling like the discouragement monsters are gaining up on me. And sooooo thirsty!
Posted 9/22/2018 3:37 PM (GMT 0)
Sorry that you're back in the hospital. You really need to put an emphasis on staying hydrated for the foreseeable future. I wonder what's going on... Maybe it's some kind of adjustment. It's a big change in your system. Please let me know what they say.
Posted 9/22/2018 4:09 PM (GMT 0)
Bloodwork just came back showing way better results. It sounds like they are going to chalk it up to dehydration. They are going to keep me here a few more days, which is just fine with me. The last place I want to be is home barfing in my shower again. That was the worst!
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