I waited 16 weeks but that wasn't by choice. After the first surgery my surgeon said it would be about 10 weeks but I never felt great and had lots of rectal pain so I needed longer to heal. Many surgeons wait at least 3 months but some will reverse sooner if it's all smooth sailing after first step. I think it really depends on your recovery.

I would say recovery would vary in each person. On average it seems to be 4 months between the colon removal and then the take down, as long as there are no complications in the meantime.

I felt so good (healthy) with the temporary ileostomy that I actually was reluctant to give it up! I chose to keep it for a full year. I was really healed by then from my first step surgery and my takedown was a breeze. No problems for me as a result of waiting that long.

My takedown surgery was 9.5 weeks from colon removal. Maybe have been too soon however because I ended up having leaks after reconnected which resulted in drains being put in. But everyone is different and this could have been a very rare instance. I hope whatever time frame you or the doc decides you have an uneventful recovery.

I waited 12 weeks. I am not sure if there is a too much time rule. I wanted it done quick

For me it was only five weeks and one day. I was supposed to wait 6 weeks but my stoma closure was sewn too tight so nothing was passing through and I chose to have it sooner and I was miserable with the illeostomy. That was last thursday and now I'm feeling great and already love my j pouch! My doctor said that it helped my pouch with a shorter time between the surgeries going into the first surgery relatively healthy and nourished. He also said in some patients he had to go in at three or four weeks due to strictures, blockages, etc. and they are still doing fine. I'm also only 14 if that makes a difference...

I had my surgeries in three steps. It was 8 months between step.1 to step.2 would have been longer but my stoma prolapsed. It didn't affect my anal muscles cause they left 15cm of my colon in at step.1 and attached it to my front admonial wall so i still had active UC for those eight months so i was still passing blood and mucus(sorry bit gross). Then it was 4 months from 2 to 3 which was nearly too long cause my j-pouch started to shrink and they had to inflate it back to proper size. I had a bag for just over a year which was good timewise for recovery. But hard trying to get use to going to the loo the 'normal' way again and painful. But worth it
Good luck with it all.

oops i meant abdominal