hi, can you still get a j-pouch if all you have left is the anus (no rectum)?

thanks,

I doubt you will find any doctor willing to perform surgery without a rectum. The risk of incontinence is too great. Someone might come along and say differently about finding a surgeon, but I doubt it.

I had my rectum removed and the jpouch attached to my anus about 9 years ago. Incontenance is a real problem everyday. I do the Kegel excercise daily and at night have to wear pads.
If I had to do it all over again I would still elect to have the JPouch. My one year with a the ostomy was more than I could handle.

My rectum was removed with my colon during step one of the J-Pouch surgery. I thought everyone's was.

You need to have a significant portion of your rectum remaining to perform a stapled j-pouch procedure. However if your rectum was removed, but you still retain your sphincters, it is still possible to have a j-pouch by the right surgeon. It would have to be a hand sewn pouch and not every surgeon is trained in this procedure. Plus, you need to be certain that your sphincters were spared. If not, no j-pouch, since you would have zero continence.

Jan

thanks everyone. How do I know if I have all my sphincters? By dr.'s examination only, or can I feel them? I can clench my butt and hold back mucus for a second...does that mean something?

Hey Jenivi--if you want to, you can ask your surgeon's office to send you the notes on your surgery, which should explain (in perhaps more detail than you want!) exactly what was done, including what was removed and what (if anything) was left. It also doesn't hurt to have them around to hand to other doctors in the future.

You could just be clenching your gluteal muscles, so that's not much of a test. The easiest thing to do is call your surgeon's office with the question and he can get back to you about it. Reading the operative report may or may not be helpful, depending on your understanding of the medicalese.

Your current doctor could also probably tell via digital exam as long as there is enough space for him to insert a finger past the sphincters.

Jan

I had my rectum completely removed when I had my j-pouch surgery 12 years ago. My suregon told me that he took everything right down to the pelvic floor. I didn't have incontinence issues but I did lose the ability to tell whether or not I needed to empty my j-pouch which led to it ultimately stretching too much and having problems with being able to fully empty.

I believe mine was hand sewn.

Shell

I had most of my rectum removed and have a successful J Pouch and it functions great.

I don't know how many cm or whatever he left, but, by and large a majority of my rectum was removed. I have some difficulty telling what is stool and what is gas, but, other than that I have no problems.

and mine was hand sewn.

i had my rectum removed, no problem with leakage. Although, that was a major concern. But I was in shape and young, so I think that had a lot to do with it.

I had my colon and rectum removed as the most severely affected portion was the bottom 17cm (including the rectum). My j-pouch is attached directly to the anus...I have excellent control and have had no incontinence since surgery 4 years ago.

I guess it would depend on what your surgeon says, but it definately is a possibility in some people

Alex

thanks. I think I meant to say that the surgeon will have to now create the pouch with an anus only. I have an end ileostomy and an anus, no pouch, no rectum. So it will need to be hand-sewn according to Jan. Is this what some of you also went through? Or am I rare?

Love,

Jen, what you have is the more rare condition, as they usually leave some sort of rectum for a later j-pouch possibility. But really, the critical issue is whether or not your sphincters are intact.

Jan

Jenivi, you say that you can clench your butt and hold back mucus ...

Maybe I'm missing something - how can someone be creating and passing mucus if there is no rectum or intestine attached to the anus?