It's time, almost- 4/14/14

(forgive me if you read both forums, but I also posted this on the ostomy forum) SO- I met with my surgeon yesterday, & scheduled the procedure for 4/14/14. It went well- long appt, almost an hour. I am having the surgery 4/14/14, will be in the hospital about a week, & out of work for anywhere from 4-8 weeks, barring complications. Gulp... he is going to remove my large intestine, my rectum, my anus (it's got to come out because the fistula is so low), create the ileo, & repair the fistula. He hopes to do the upper part lapro, but the lower half will most likely be open, he likes to be able to "feel" what's good & what's not. It's going to be a very major, very complicated surgery. I came home & pounded a giant glass of wine. Than another! I'm not really nervous, I know it's going to absolutely suck, but it's been hanging over my head for so long, & it'll be nice to have it done with. I really like the surgeon too. He said I'll feel ok in about 3 weeks, with the ileo & all, but my butt is going to be REALLY sore for a LONG time. Funny enough, I used to freak out about the ileo thing- now I could really care less about that, it's more the butt issue that scares me! Is there a forum for *** wounds??? haha.....

Best of luck with everything, Eva!!! I have high hopes that you'll pull through and feel much, much better. And maybe you'll find that you have a naturally high pain tolerance!

no kidding, Levi, huh??? Intense is right...I suppose in the battle between my colon & me, the colon won. However, since the prize is incineration.... Despite my apprehension (I've never even had surgery!) I am really looking forward to having it behind me, done with. Of course I'll let you all know the outcome- how much you wanna bet I'll turn into one of those pro-surgery types all you UC'ers hate??? hahaha.....

I hope you have a very quick recovery. I think this is going to give you your life back, I know how much you've struggled over the years.

Eva Lou,

Good luck. I can speak about my experience with open surgery (29 staples), surprisingly it didn't hurt as much as I expected it to, but I did have a hard time moving in my mid-section for 4-6 weeks....had to pull myself out of bed, things like that but it wasn't too bad. about 2 weeks after surgery I could do most things.

This was my first surgery too; I was worried, scared and didn't know what to expect (I was also excited to be having surgery because I knew that I'd feel so much better) but as soon as I got to the hospital I found myself to be very relaxed and calm plus it helped that all the medical personnel were so professional. It does help when you have a lot of confidence in your surgeon like you have; my surgeon was great.

All my energy is back now; I'm doing and getting caught up on things that I've put off for years. An Ilostomy does take some getting used to, mine is only temporary so I'm not experimenting too much with appliances,other ostomy supplies and tricks that you might want to do.

You'll be able to eat real food again without worries!!!!

Wow, so you have a definite date now... (forgive me, but haven't you previously scheduled surgery and then cancelled it? I may be confusing you with someone else). In any case -- best wishes for you, I hope it all goes as well as it possibly can!

That seems like ages, but also so close!