Community Forum

If you have had ileostomy reversal, how long did you need to stay home after the surgery? I have a desk job, and wonder how much time I should plan on taking off. Also, what is it like right after the surgery? Are you running to the bathroom every hour? Do you need to be on a restricted diet? I have an appt with my surgeon, but until I get a chance to talk to him, I wanted to gather a little more info.  Thanks, all!

 Reply posted for NeverEnding.

I'm glad your recovery is going so well!  Thanks for the link to the UOAA website--I am definitely getting some excellent and helpful info there. Take care, and happy Fall!

 Reply posted for KarenS.

So my incision is normal.  I got the staples taken out, and now I'm just packing the open area twice a day with gauze, and putting a bandage over that.

I think that with a j-pouch you might have more problems with diarrhea than I had, because you don't have all the colon that I do to absorb and digest as much.  But on the UOAA website there are a lot of people who have j-pouches,  so they might be more helpful than I am.

I hope that things are going well for you, and that when you do have your surgery, you have a nice recovery and are feeling back to yourself in no time! Good luck, and take care!! =)

 Reply posted for KarenS.

Its getting better.  It's kind of been one of those "slowly but surely" things.  Todays the first day that I woke up and felt really myself again. It seems like my incision is healing slower than I thought it would, but I have an appointment set up with my surgeon's clinic shortly, so I'll find out.  They purposely did not close the incision tightly to reduce the risk of infection since there was a piece of intestine sticking through the skin there.  Of course without having an appetite for that first week, I wasn't eating very well, and your body needs lots of protien and vitamin c to repair its own skin.  I still don't have many bowel movements, maybe one a day, but they're still kind of explosive (for lack of better vocab at the moment).

 Reply posted for NeverEnding.

Sounds like it is going well for you so far!  Has it changed in the past few days, or is it still about the same?
I have to postpone my surgery for about 4 weeks, because my J pouch incision is not completely healed yet. I am looking fwd to getting this done!
Thanks so much for letting me know how it is going!

 Reply posted for KarenS.

I had my ileostomy reversed 5 days ago. I'm not really having any major problems.  In the hospital I was pretty nauseas and had pain frequently, but that's getting better now. I'm not having much diarrhea so far... so I don't know if I should still expect it or not.  I don't have much of an appetite yet. Yesterday was the only day that I've had any bowel movements so far, and I had 4... 2 in the morning and 2 in the evening.

 Reply posted for KarenS.

My ileostomy is not reversed yet, but I can tell you what I know so far... and by the end of next week I should be able to answer some more questions for you.

At the most I'll be off work for 4 weeks,  but I was told that there is a decent chance I will be able to go back in 2 weeks,  I just won't be able to do the normal amount of lifting that I do at work. (I'm a pediatric home care nurse, and my patients are all between 20 and 70lbs). From the ostomates on the UOAA discussion boards I gather that hernias are more common than I had thought they were, and I'll probably be a non-lifter for longet than I think. The reason I was told at least 2 weeks is because it takes your digestive tract a little bit of time to return to normal after the surgery.  Since your colon has been resting while the temp ileo has been in place, it may spasm,  and between that and the low fiber diet we'll probably have a good bit of diarrhea during those first couple of weeks.  From both the recommendations of people on the UOAA board, and experience at work, it's a good idea to invest in a tube of Calmoseptine. Its over the counter, but a lot of pharmacies in my area don't keep it behind the counter for some reason.

From what I gather, the diet progresses much like it did with the original ileostomy surgery. 

If you go to the UOAA boards (www.ostomy.org),  there is a temporary ileostomy discussion board on there, and there are a lot of very helpful people who respond on those boards. IDK how much of your colon was removed, but a lot of the people on that board have experienced a takedown with a j-pouch.  I had a right hemicolectomy and will have my large and small intestine reattatched.

Good luck with your reversal!!! I hope that all goes well for you,  and I'll be posting for sure after my surgery,  so I'll keep your questions in mind when I do. Take care!