Just know fellow JPouchers.... YOU WILL HAVE TO DO IT AND ITS NOT FUN!
Besides that unexpected experience, everything else went great! I met with my doctors and my wonderful surgeon who explained what would be happening for the procedure. On Thursday March 5, I will have to start my clear liquid diet all day and then I cannot consume anything past midnight that night. Friday, March 6 I have to be in the hospital by 6:00 am for the 7:30 am surgery. Dr. Hurst (the surgeon) said that this surgery usually only takes a maximum of one hour. That is a HUGE difference compared to my last surgery, which took about 6 hours. The suspected hospital stay is usually around 3-5 days depending on how well you do. What will determine me being able to leave is the consistency of my BM's and being able to have control and feel comfortable with everything. They don't want to let patients leave when having loose stool, due to potential dehydration problems. So my #1 goal after my surgery is to eat anything that will "thicken" my wonderful BM's. They also told me once again that I wont be able to lift more than 10 pounds for another 6 weeks and that I will be put onto the lovely "low residue diet."
YOU GUYS DON'T UNDERSTAND HOW ANXIOUS I AM!
Yaa know, its been a good run with my ostomy and my doctors, but i think its time to say goodbye to this chapter of my life and finally (hopefully) be able to move on!
Here is a cute little diagram of what my insides look like!
Basically, during this last surgery, the only thing they need to do it take the part of my intestine that is forming my stoma (the opening where my ostomy is connected to) and sew it together to the stool will pass through my entire small intestine instead of taking "a turn" into the ostomy. They said that I will have a few staples in my stomach were my stoma used to be and eventually I'll have a nice circle scar on my stomach. The official name of this surgery is "ileostomy takedown."
LET THE ONE WEEK COUNTDOWN BEGIN <3
-- JKL
