I wouldn't say I felt great immediately following surgery. I had a few things going against me, I've always had fatigue, it's hard to motivate when you're recovering, and you're already tired all the time. I did manage to pull through of course, I was up and about
in a few weeks, and i got along quite well.
I have an allergy to opiates, I was literally off pain meds a few days after getting released. I may have taken one or two pills when I initially arrived home, but that's all. I think getting off the pain meds helped me to recover faster. I had a home care nurse, I believe for 3 appointments. She came every other day the first week. Week two, I had to go to my surgeon and I had no one to drive me, so I drove myself. I was off meds and I wasn't in excruciating pain. I did have some trouble getting around at that point. You have to take it easy for a few weeks following surgery. I think they said, no lifting more than 10 pounds, no sex, some people have special diets but i didn't. I ate PF Chang in the hospital before i was released
.
The ileo itself is another situation that you have to learn to deal with. I definitely could have walked down the isle with mine, especially my end ileo, my loop, i would have been nervous, but when it really comes down to it, it would have been fine if necessary. I'd say, it was probably 2-3 weeks with my ileo before I was confident with the changes. The nurse, though helpful, probably hampered my progress because the moment I started doing it myself is the moment I really started to learn. It was good to have her to learn from though, maybe i wouldn't have been able to "get it" without her help, so I am thankful I had her.
I wasn't on pred when I had surgery. I had turned it down because I was still so bloated, pimply, hairy and heavy from past courses, and I couldn't put myself through it. I am pretty sure you can taper a lot quicker after surgery, but you still have to taper & you will still have to wait for the pred side effects to slowly diminish. I had lost a bunch of weight from not eating and not taking pred, but I went into step 1 chubby. By the time I got to step 2, I was petite. It was crazy, I hadn't worn petite clothes in so long, it was not at all expected. I thought my body had changed after 30... After the third step, I stayed small. I am active and I watch what i eat. My surgeon said not to expect to stay petite, but it's been a few years and I am still holding my figure steady - this is how I was before pred.
The biggest problem I see, is that October is soon. If anything went wrong, what then? At the same time, you're already on a high dose of pred, stressed, feeling poorly and not seeing improvement - so that path isn't working out either. Perhaps Keith is right, maybe something to rescue just to get you through the wedding.
If you want to talk, feel free to email me. We can even get on the phone one of these days... When you meet with the surgeon, ask what he/she thinks about
doing it this soon before a major event. Ask how many jpouches they've done too. Ask about
complications & about
how he sees you as a candidate, risk factors being on a high dose of pred. Ask about
the plan to taper. Having a wedding where you can't enjoy yourself would be a nightmare, but I do not know what would guarantee the best outcome by that date unfortunately.