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Ileostomy Reversal Next Week

Mon, December 22, 2008 12:45 AM

Hey all.

Details:
Crohns for 10 years. 29 year old male. Had my first resection surgery on June 27th of this year. It was an emergency surgery as they poked a hole in me during a colonoscopy. I was a mess for a good 3 months before the surgery. Took out my ileocecal and about 20 cm of small intestine. I have had a ileostomy bag for 6 months and am having the surgery to put me back together right on Dec. 29. Large intestine is dormant until the 29th. After reading about others on this site, my Crohns seems pretty unremarkable. I don't have Diabetes, kidney issues, large intestine issues, etc, just Crohns. I was told I was close to death during the first surgery but I always look at the glass half full!

I was down to 100 pounds at the time of my surgery which is 50 pounds below ideal. I figured recovery would be iffy due to my condition at the time but I started work after 4 weeks (manager/office work), became pretty active again during this time as well (tennis, biking, hiking....recently skiing). I was this active before the surgery as well and think that helped in recovery. I am up to 150 again.

Questions for my upcoming reversal for people with similar story:
1) How long were you out of work? (I'm figuring another month)
2) Was this surgery worse/better/same as the first?
3) Can I fly after 3 weeks? (I'll talk to my doc about this too. Flights already booked)
4) Any tips for getting the bowel to work again? (I've heard chewing gum can help)
5) Being that I am much healthier now, should this help my recovery? (I was told that the incision is what you need to recover from more than the actual bowel so maybe this doesn't matter as much)
6) Anything else?

Thanks in advance. Thomas

tmartenst
Joined May 25, 2008

Wed, January 14, 2009 12:50 AM

Reply posted for mdhilton.

Thanks bud. I actually just saw your response now two weeks after the take down. The surgery went well. Two incisions (1-vertical in same spot but twice as short, 2-closure of stoma site). Had an epidural which I did not have the first time. It was worth it. Took 4 days to have a BM. Released from the hospital on Day 6. Just had my staples out today. BM's are very loose and I am told it can take months to get back to normal after your bowel wakes up (I still have my entire large intestine). I will say the take down surgery was a little tougher of a recovery than the first which is probably why they did the ileostomy in the first place. I was much healthier this time and after two weeks I am pretty good. I have been driving, working a little (office job) and will be flying across country tomorrow. They actually pulled my entire small intestine out during the surgery and saw another section of inflamed Crohn's 70cm up so they took that out and reconnected. That means I had two sites that wee reconnected during this surgery. All is well and I think it went pretty smooth. I should be back on the mountain in 4 weeks!

Thomas

tmartenst
Joined May 25, 2008

Mon, December 29, 2008 9:11 PM

Reply posted for tmartenst.

Hi,

You can check out my photo blog below which will answer most your questions from my experience. Overall, I healed up quickly with no complications and was back moving about well around week 3 in recovery.

http://ucstory.wordpress.com/surgery-3-jpouch-or-takedown-surgery/

My bowels woke up on the 2nd day and I just kept walking, walking, walking and followed the doctors food request while in the hospital.

Mark

mdhilton
Joined Nov 1, 2008

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