Hi All,
Next week will be 4 months post take down. Things are slowly getting better. This process is painfully slow and I hope I haven't reached my ceiling yet and that I will continue to SLOWLY get better ;O)
I average about 6 times a day which includes 1 - 2 trips to the bathroom during the overnight. No butt burn issues. My golden period is from the time I wake up between 6am and 7am until mid afternoon. I don't go at all during that time. Then, come 3pm/4pm, I usually go every 2 hours or so until 10pmish. I will empty my pouch before bed and most nights I will wake up once to empty my pouch, though there are rare instances of going the whole night without emptying.
My overnight leaking has subsided to maybe leaking 4 nights during the week (used to be every night).
I just hope this isn't then end of improvement. If it was, I could live with it. But I am really hoping for 4 times a day with no leaks. Hopefully, this will be the case after 12 months post take down.
Still have issues with gas which will give me an urge to go for about 5 seconds and then I feel the gas move and then I will be fine for awhile. As my pouch gets fuller, the urges become stronger and more uncomfortable.
I never had issues with leaking during the day and luckily, I only had to deal with major butt itch the 1st couple of weeks after take down. But since then, the butt itch hasn't reared it's ugly head.
So all in all, I feel great. Good energy and I am slowly ramping up my excercise routine and work full time with no issues. I just get nervous sometimes that this will be the best it will ever be for me. It is such a slow process of adaptation, which is understandable being that the small intestines weren't made for this type of work. It's amazing that they even adapt at all! But it is hard to maintain patience sometimes. I continually pray for strength and patience.
I can live with the overnight bathroom trip. I just don't like the multiple trips in a short period of time in the late afternoons and early evenings. I really hope that improves over the next several months.
Anyway, I am happy with my results and look forward to further improvement. And this is certainly better than having an ileostomy!
I wish everybody a happy, healthy and safe holiday season!
love to all,
mark
Next week will be 4 months post take down. Things are slowly getting better. This process is painfully slow and I hope I haven't reached my ceiling yet and that I will continue to SLOWLY get better ;O)
I average about 6 times a day which includes 1 - 2 trips to the bathroom during the overnight. No butt burn issues. My golden period is from the time I wake up between 6am and 7am until mid afternoon. I don't go at all during that time. Then, come 3pm/4pm, I usually go every 2 hours or so until 10pmish. I will empty my pouch before bed and most nights I will wake up once to empty my pouch, though there are rare instances of going the whole night without emptying.
My overnight leaking has subsided to maybe leaking 4 nights during the week (used to be every night).
I just hope this isn't then end of improvement. If it was, I could live with it. But I am really hoping for 4 times a day with no leaks. Hopefully, this will be the case after 12 months post take down.
Still have issues with gas which will give me an urge to go for about 5 seconds and then I feel the gas move and then I will be fine for awhile. As my pouch gets fuller, the urges become stronger and more uncomfortable.
I never had issues with leaking during the day and luckily, I only had to deal with major butt itch the 1st couple of weeks after take down. But since then, the butt itch hasn't reared it's ugly head.
So all in all, I feel great. Good energy and I am slowly ramping up my excercise routine and work full time with no issues. I just get nervous sometimes that this will be the best it will ever be for me. It is such a slow process of adaptation, which is understandable being that the small intestines weren't made for this type of work. It's amazing that they even adapt at all! But it is hard to maintain patience sometimes. I continually pray for strength and patience.
I can live with the overnight bathroom trip. I just don't like the multiple trips in a short period of time in the late afternoons and early evenings. I really hope that improves over the next several months.
Anyway, I am happy with my results and look forward to further improvement. And this is certainly better than having an ileostomy!
I wish everybody a happy, healthy and safe holiday season!
love to all,
mark
