The corrective surgery is invasive and involves moving my stoma to the other side of my belly.
I opted for a JPouch instead. It would be nearly as invasive as the correction surgery. It turns out my surgeon thinks she can do it in one step. Why not try it, and the worst case is we revert to an ostomy...?
Here we go again, yet another adventure to go through. This time I am excited!
The bag isn't bad but if the JPouch works, how cool would that be?
I always say - everything happens for a reason! Maybe the jpouch will give you your life back! And you are right - worst case: you go back to the ostomy. :) That's cool that they think they can do it in one-step. Any idea when they want to do it?
ReplyDeleteWow, that sounds terrific, I know nothing about J pouches so cannot comment except to say research and then research some more as information is key to a successful outcome in most things.
ReplyDeleteGosh, I hope they can do it soon for you, that wound sounds nasty, as if you haven't enough to deal with already, got to hand it to you, you deal with all this stuff really well, we can't call you a whiner that's for sure. All the best, the Kiwi (again).
As I see it here are some mutually exclusive probabilities:
ReplyDelete1% chance of sepsis
5% chance of blockages/stenosis due to adhesions/strictures
10% chance of severe inflammation in the pouch which is like colitis again within first year
35% chance of non-severe inflammation in the pouch within 10 years
100% chance of diarrhea-like symptoms for the first 1-3 months
All in all there's around a 74% chance of normal function after 3 months. I'm leaning towards trying it but jeez, does this sh*t get any easier ever?!
BTW the apparent recovery time is no different b/w laparoscopic vs open techniques but the chances of adhesions (leading to blockages) seem higher with the latter.
A couple of random tidbits:
They want to do this surgery within the next month.
A 1 step is supposed to be about as safe as a 2 step.
What I'm curious to know is how they will attach the rectal stump given that it's totally inflamed. I just hope that they check that first before doing everything else!
We booked a dream cottage for 2 months this summer under the pretend fantasy that I will be healthy. It overlooks Lake Ontario (well, you'd have to jump a few hundred feet off a cliff first but the lake is otherwise there). It's nice to have a light to look forward to at the end of the tunnel!
that's fantastic - maybe meant to be? fingers crossed it all works out for you.
ReplyDeletealso, about the rectom, I'm sure they'll do it at Mount Sinai but you might want to check that they'll strip the mucosal layer of the rectom. I think it's called a mucosplasty but I'm not totally sure. Anyway, the have to do this, or you'll continue to flare.
ReplyDelete