Have been having problems since last July, pouchiti, cuffitis and now in last 5 months dealing with fistula and abcesses. Very painful. Saw surgeon on Tuesday and she recommends doing minor repair, drain abcess, stitch fistua if possible, no temporary illestomy as she feels that during healing the scar tissue may cause narrowing and blocking. May take till September to get this done. TOo many patients and not enough OR time. Does not hold out much hope for saving pouch. GI wants me try Remicade as soon as surgery is done. I feel like I would like another opinion. Can anyone recommend another surgeon in Toronto not at Mount Sinai. I know the OR time there is at a premium as I am sure it is elsewhere. Would like another person to tell me the same thing. I feel like she wanted me to say just remove the pouch. I have had it for 6 years and yes it is not perfect, at best still going 10-15 times a day, but that was manageable for me. I had control and not alot of pain, unlike UC. Another thing the surgeon now feels that I likely have Crohns. Any suggestions would be helpful. Perhaps Jan can shed some light on this for me. I always felt that after all that surgery and so on that saving the pouch was always the goal and I know feel like everybody is giving up without a good fight.

Hey Susan, I'm a Mt Sinai patient too, dealing with surgery delays and a fistula. Sorry, can't help you with a recommendation for someone else, as far as I'm aware, Mt Sinai is "the" place for IBD surgeries in Canada. I'm currently waiting for a fistula plug surgery. It was scheduled for last week, but cancelled as there were no beds available. Hang in there, if you need to talk pm me. I'm just north of Toronto.

Elaine

I am Mount Sinai too, it is the center for bowel surgery. You can try St. Mike's which has a big GI department and some surgeons. The other hospitals would probably end up spending right back to Mount Sinai most likely....

Hi Susan!

I had all my surgeries done at St. Michael's Hospital by Dr. Jarley Koo, and they were a complete success...we have an excellent GI program at St. Mike's (I work there now as well), my surgeon and my gastro doc are not the same man, my GI doctor is Dr. Terry Moore, one of the, if not THE best gastro guys in the country. He's saved my pouch on moer than one occasion!..if you want mroe info, let me know, I'd be happy to try to help you out!

Cheers!
Eric

Eric from St. Mikes thank you for responding. I have not been on the site for a couple of years but I remember you from before and was hoping that you would respond. I need to get a referal, who would you suggest that I see. Is or time as precious at St. Mikes as Mt. Sinai. I was told I have severe peranial desease and they will try and get me in before September. Somewhat discouraging considering the amount of discomfort that I am in. I am currently contemplating going on disability from work until this gets resolved. It is becoming more and more difficult to deal with at work without my bidet. I believe the surgeons new opinion of not trying much to save the pouch is because she believes I have Crohns now. Does this make sense or is it just me. My point is, it is my pouch and I want to give it the best chance possible. Thanks.