Hello Everyone,

I am new to the community and have recently been part of an extremely grueling process with my girlfriend who is 22 years old. I could get into all the ups and downs but you all know what they are!! So, my girlfriend had a colectomy on January 8th, 2009. She has began to heal quite nicely and has began weening off the terrible steroids she had been on for about a month. She is gaining weight and things seem to be going smoothly. My question is; she is going to be having the three party surgery for the implementation of the j-pouch. My question is can someone please explain to me the "itinerary" for this process. I am under the idea that surgery two is the implementation of the pouch and that usually occurs from 3-5 months after the first. Then surgery three is the "takedown" correct? Which i was told would be about another 3-5 months. Can someone please give a timeline for their three step surgery!!

Hi, there and welcome! It's wonderful to hear that your girlfriend is getting better and weening off those nasty drugs!! I'm also so happy to hear that you are supporting her and trying to understand this whole process. What a guy!! I have to say that gives you lots of bonus points in my book.

Anyway, here is what I went through. I also had three part surgery and just finished 5 weeks ago. I had the colectomy in July, the pouch creation and loop ileostomy in October and takedown the end of December.

The second surgery is by far the most lengthy and it does take a while to recover from it. Mine was about 6-7 hours long. The ostomy she has now is different from the one she will have with the next surgery. Tell her to enjoy this one...the next one is trickier. And takedown is a very simple surgery maybe 1-2 hours. But, I experienced a lot of pain afterward. It was explained to me that they really have to tug and pull on your skin to get it to close up from the ostomy site. Plus I had a high tolerance for narcotics at that point, so it took more to control my pain.

The recovery from the second surgery is very similar to the first. The only complication I had was some bladder issues. Mine didn't want to work right and I had to self cath for about a week. No big deal...it resolved itself. The takedown took a few weeks for the recovery as far as pain...it takes a lot longer to get the hang of how your new plumbing works.

I hope I helped. If you or she has any other questions, feel free to contact me either through a private message or here on the boards.

You can also post something on the general discussion forum...you will get a lot more responses.

Again...thank you for caring enough about her to get involved. That's wonderful. You will find many, many fantastic people here willing to help you with everything.

Take Care!!
Susan

my son had the three surgery deal as well.we did the first one in october and the pouch and loop ostomy in march. she's right about being trickey. that surgery is the big one so expect her to be a little more sore and cranky. but soon she'll be chomping at the bit for the take down surgery. in may he had his take down and thats when the fun begins. she will be frustrated some times but in time she will get back to normal. some people are good at controling their bowels right after surgery and some it takes longer fiber wafers and imodium will help.my son went paintballing two weeks after surgery but i wouldn't recommend heavy activity for at least a month or so depending on what her dr. says.have the patience of jobe and you'll do fine in helping her get threw this.good luck.