After suffering from UC for 7 years with increasingly more difficult falre ups and recurrent C diff infections, my GI doc has come to the conclusion that I need surgery.

My wife stays at home with our two young children and I am very concerned with how much work I'm going to have to miss during recovery--I am self employed so I don't have vacation time or sick leave. Furthermore, I'm an optometrist so I spend my days on a tight schedule interacting with lots of people in a one-on-one format. I am concerned about the implications--during recovery and on--of odor, gas, continence, gut noise etc in regards to my work.

...of course, as it is now I run to the bathroom about 10 times during work with severe cramping and bleeding, so I guess it can't be much worse

Can anyone shed some light on my concerns?

The problems you anticipate...incontinence, odor, (from the incontinence), and gut noises are largely in the beginning/adjustment phase. If all goes well, these things consistently and progressively get better. With the gut noises, I used to just pass them of as hunger pangs. If you were already running to the bathroom 10 times prior to surgery, the worst that can happen afterwards with the incontinence (which is really more like a gradual seepage)is that you can go clean yourself up in the bathroom as needed and at least there is not the same sense of urgency that we experienced with UC. I always used AD ointment around the anus and then placed 2-3 cotton balls there. It helped prevent butt burn and made clean ups much easier. Wear cologne to increase your self confidence about the odor and keep some kind of automatic room deodorizer in your place of business. Again, remember that this phase is temporary. I have had my pouch for almost 25 years and can barely remember this part. People on this site will be here to support you and offer helpful suggestions. In the long run you will be healthier without your diseased colon and like so many of us you will feel it was worth it. Good luck. Keep us posted!!
Hattie

Hi there,

Welcome to the community, you'll find great info and support here.

You are asking all the questions Mark asked before his surgery too. Mark is self-employed contractor which was tricky but we managed through surgery time. For us what it required was about 9 months of planning (financial, dates, clients, etc) before the knowing when we could schedule the surgeries. It was a hard time for us, especially b/c we knew we would have to be planning for so many unknowns, you know the unknowns of "what if there is a complication?" Those what ifs you have to let go of and go with the best case scenario with some room for complication.

It may help you check out Mark's photo journal of his surgeries, recovery, time off work, etc..It may help give you some frame of reference. Mark had a 2 step process:

Start with Surgery 1: http://ucstory.wordpress.com/surgery-1/

Next is living with ileo:
http://ucstory.wordpress.com/surgery-2-inbetween-surgeries/

Last is the Jpouch surgery:
http://ucstory.wordpress.com/surgery-3-jpouch-or-takedown-surgery/

Planning this surgery is a BIG deal, so you and wife need to become a total partnership through this. In our family when surgery became a reality the disease went from being "Mark's Disease" to becoming "Our family disease."

FYI, life is great now - healthy happy and back to work.

Megan

After my first surgery, I was off work completely for about 3 weeks, came back part time for 3 weeks, and then went full time. I was out 2 weeks (including the time I was in the hospital) for the second surgery.

When I had my bag, I was very self conscious.
The stoma would pass gas, I would giggle, and my husband thought I was crazy because he didn't know what I was laughing at. He didn't hear it at all, and I thought it was so loud. As far as smell goes, I thought everyone could smell it because I thought I did. I would have to say that I was with one of my employees and my bag sprung a hole, leaked all over my white pants I had opted to wear that day, and all I could do was smell the awful smell! I was mortified, but the person I was with did not smell it at all, and I was in a vehicle with them. You will be much more aware of the smell than anybody else is (unless it is the middle of the night when you are emptying your bag and then watch out!! ha! ha!).

As far as incontinence, I have had no issues with this except when I was on a liquid diet in the hospital. As soon as I was on solid, I had no problems at all. I do go now more than I did with UC (and it sounds like you have the exact same issues I did prior to surgery), but I have a lot more control, no blood, and no cramping.

It will take a couple of weeks post take down to feel like the surgery was actually worth it! But it is!! Believe me! Good luck and keep us posted!

Cristol

I had my surgeries in two steps. First was to remove the colon and build the jpouch at the same time. I had a temp ostomy bag for nine months before I had my second surgery to reconnect and get rid of the ostomy bag. Some can have the second surgery in two months, but I had chemotherapy in between. Some people have only one surgery, some have three depending on their health at the time. Often the surgeon won't know until he/she opens you up and can determine what they can do at that time.

I returned to work after 6 weeks from surgery one. I worked full time through chemo except for the few hours three days a week that I'd leave for the chemo. I was horrified by the bag but it did make bathroom breaks more convenient. If the stoma made noises, I'd put my hand on my stomach and people might say "lunchtime, huh?" or that's what I might say.

After the temp ileo was closed and I was reconnected in the 2nd surgery, I was off four weeks and felt great. Incontinence hasn't been an issue for me, thank goodness. Most importantly to me was the urgency to run to the bathroom was gone and I had control. Everyone reacts differently though and I wish you the best!