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Hi,
As part of my future KPouch surgery, I have been given a couple of options. I'm hoping to have the JPouch converted to a KPouch to save small bowel. Though, if it's unusable, from being too poorly constructed in the first place..even as a JPouch...the second choice is to rip it out, and create a fresh KPouch from scratch.
Obviously my main fear is, how is my health going to be after this. Not so much with nutrient absorption as that part of the small bowel doesn't have a lot of responsibility in that area luckily. I mean I can always have B12 shots for example, or the 'under the tongue' B12 tablets I take now may be just as effective. But what i'm more worried about is water absorption, increased dehydration, eventual kidney damage. Those things concern me more.
Then there's another 15cm that will have to be wasted that's sitting above the old jpouch.. I asked at the time of getting the last end ileo, to cut the bowel as close to the soon to be unused jpouch as possible, but had to accept the cut being made around 15cm or so higher....I wasn't in the position to argue, as I was fighting pain levels at the time that almost took me from this life. Now it appears that 15cm will be unusable and be thrown away as it will be too short to be good for anything regardless of what option I choose with surgery.....more wasted healthy bowel. This wasn't caused by the KPouch surgeon that i'm hoping to go through by the way. If only i'd seen him sooner, my future health would have been greatly improved. Such is life.

So, I'd really love to hear from people who've had to have an old JPouch/KPouch/BCIR taken out completely, and a new one put in. That includes a second KPouch/BCIR or JPouch put in actually. Or Crohns people who have JPouches or KPouches/BCIR's that have had other parts of their small bowel resected in the past, especially if those resections have taken out 40cm or so of small bowel along your journey.

Thank you,
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Hi Adrian,
Well, at least the news is good, and no, you should really not be worried that your bowel is going to be too short...according to Dr Cohen, my k pouch surgeon, we have enough leftover to recreate another 2 pouchs...that said when my valve failed the first time and he couldn't fix it, instead of removing my k pouch and starting again, he cut it out leaving a 30cm afferent limb hanging off of it (the part of the intesine that leads into the pouch)and then flipped the pouch over.
He then reattached the the stoma end of my pouch to the 'live intestine' after removing the valve from it and built a new valve on the other side out of the 30cms hanging off of it.
That way he was able to reuse my pouch and save me all of that intestine.
You might want to mention this to your surgeon if he doesn't know about the technique and maybe delicately suggest that he contact Dr C if he has never heard of it being done that way. He is absolutely sure that he can repeat the process again and again if needed. (and he did!).
This might help you not to worry so much.
Sharon
ps..my old French surgeon did not believe me when I told him about it so I had Dr C send him the operative reports.
skn69
I'm on my second Kock pouch. Originally had an ileostomy, then had it converted to a Kock pouch in June 2004. Had revisions done in February 2009 & September 2010. Then in February 2011 I was still having problems, so my first Kock pouch was taken out in its entirety & a second Kock pouch constructed. I had a revision to my second Kock pouch done in November 2011. After my last surgery I asked my surgeon if I had enough intestine to build another Kock pouch if necessary in the future & he said yes, that could be done. I don't how much small intestine I have left. I haven't had any problems with dehydration. I take regular vitamins & minerals & have never thought of taking or been advised to take B12 tablets or shots. Leslie - were you advised to take B12 & in what way do you feel they have helped you. - Dixie
Dixie from Saskatchewan
Hi Dixie!
Somewhere I read that people with bowel surgeries could become B12 deficient.
So, when it was time for my annual blood work, I asked my doctor to have my levels checked. B12 testing is not routine. The results came back borderline deficient and I've been taking monthly shots for 3 or 4 years.My doctor does not feel the under the tongue is as effective so her nurse and I have a very nice relationship.
I did ask her now that my levels are normal, what would happen if I stopped the shots. She said I would become anemic again.
Dixie, I work almost 40 hours a week with 3 and 4 year olds so I am fairly tired by the end of the week. I can't imagine if I wasn't receiving the shots Roll Eyes
L
Thanks Leslie and Dixie. That's reassuring for sure. Smiler

I have been taking the sublingual B12 hoping that they'd been helping, but never quite sure. Well, just had blood tests done the other day, and the B12 levels came back quite a bit higher than they should have been. Doc told me to cut down on the tablets a little from now on. I think he doubted they'd work as good as a shot from memory of when I mentioned I was going to start using them, so he was surprised they were working so well too. lol Not saying they'd be as effective for all people as the shots. The other thing is, having a shot once a month could actually be easier than taking a tablet every day depending on how you look at it I guess.

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