I'm slightly over 3 weeks post surgery now, and have been intubating every 3 hours. The written information I was given before I left the hospital says increase the time between intubation by 30 minutes a week, but when I saw Dr. Launer before I came home he said increase it by an hour a week, so now I'm a little confused since I've gotten different info. LOL Those who have been through it already, how much did you increase it each week? I assume that as long as I don't have too much discomfort an hour would be safe since that's what the doctor said, but I thought I'd ask and see what others think.

I have a Kock pouch. One thing to remember, if you feel like you have to go before your 3 hours are up, go ahead and intubate. You don't want to put too much pressure on it in the beginning.

I would tend to be more conservative and increase it by 30 minutes each week. It won't take long to hit your maximum rate. The weeks will fly by. ;-)

Good luck.

I think Dr. Fazio may do things differently than Dr. Launer.
At 3 weeks I still had the constant drain in.It was removed at four weeks post op.
Once the 24/7 catheter was removed I emptied every 3 hours for I think 2 weeks, including at least once during the night. Then I did increase it by an hour.

BUT, like Bodoni said, if I had to empty before "time was up" I emptied. Don't push it, it could be difficult to get the catheter in.

Thanks for the input! I'll probably just stick to going up 30 minutes a week, just to be sure I'm not trying to stretch it too much too fast. Dr. Launer did tell me that I'd probably have some discomfort during this phase, but not to let it get too bad and go ahead and intubate early if I feel like I need to.

I just joined today and saw that you are from Oklahoma. I am also (Broken Arrow) and I am currently in the process of setting up my BCIR surgery with Dr. Schiller in LA. Is your BCIR brand new? What is it like? Are you glad you did it?

In your post on Oct. 15, you said you had the surgery, left the hospital after about 6 days, then stayed for at least a week until your post-op with Dr. Launer. Where did you stay? Do you stay at a hotel instead of the hospital? I have been in contact with Dr. Launer's office because Dr. Schiller is not in my insurance network and Dr. Launer is, plus it seems like k-pouches have more of a following than BCIR. But I can't figure out the stay in San Diego! Also, did you have to go for a consultation, then fly home, then fly back for your surgery?

I went for my consultation and Dr. Launer was able to fit me in for surgery the following week, so I just stayed until then. I'm not sure if it's always that quick, but it worked out that way for me. I went for my followup not quite two weeks after I got out of the hospital. I was in San Diego for about 5 weeks total, but fortunately I have a relative there and stayed at her house.

I'm a month post surgery now. So far I'm glad I did it. I'm really tired from having to get up every few hours around the clock to intubate, but other than that no real complaints at this point.