Yikes! My first guess is that unless you tell a radiologist that you do not have a colon, very specifically, even though it may be on your record, it's unusual enough that they overlook it? Not sure what would be occupying the left side of abdomen, then. Likely small intestine?

What was the communication between you and the radiologist before the test? In the past I had a CT that read my J Pouch as a "large fluid filled tumor or growth." Communication with the radiologist is key, and if it did not happen they are left to guess at the unusual alignment they are seeing. In my case I told the radiology tech I had a J pouch and I guess she did not get it or communicate it to the radiologist. When my GI got the report he called me and he was laughing so hysterically I thought he was going to have a heart attack! It was a small rural radiology office and I bet I was the first J Pouch the radiologist ever saw.

Thank you both for responding. I spoke to the tech, but I'm guessing the information didn't get passed along. I had my surgeries in Cincinnati, but now live in a small town 12 hours away. I'm following a GI that knows a little about pouches, and he didn't even question the results. He said everything looked great and sent me to another Dr. for some incidental findings. This new Dr ran more test and everything checked out fine on her end. She said I need to follow back up with the GI because she can feel a mass in the area I'm hurting. I feel like I'm going in circles here. And it really is alarming to me that the GI didn't think anything was off about them reporting seeing my colon.

Dave,
I had my k pouch done with a total collectomy in 79 but in 88 while in the hospital here for severe pouch pain (it dropped off of the abdominal wall and was sitting on my girly organs) the intern showed up in my room, threw my x-ray at me and said, 'see, see, I told you that you still had a colon'...And sure enough, it looked just like a colon!
So much so that when I could I flew to Toronto to show it to Dr C and ask him if he hadn't forgotten something while in surgery...like to take my colon out!
He laughed at me and told me that they sometimes 'hang' the small bowel in such a way that it looks like or mimics the colon...and the fact that it fills up the space as well.
Needless to say, I felt like an idiot.
He assured me (and was pretty much ready to take contrast pictures to prove it) that my colon was long gone...
Sharon
by the way...I did have some choice words to offer the intern when I got back.

That makes more sense than anything I can think of. I may call up and talk to my original surgeon and see of that's how she arranged things. Thanks for taking the time to help me.

Have you had blood tests? Possible pancreatitis?

As stated before, unless the doctor who wrote the order for the CT specifically states on the referral that you are post restrative proctocolectomy (or something similar), the radioogist is going to go by what things look like. The radiologist often does not have access to your medical record and is just looking at films. If you have adhesions causing partial obstructions, you can get dilated loops of bowel. They could even be felt as a mass. Your GI should be looking at the films, not just relying on the report.

Bottom line, I would not worry too much about the words used.

Jan

Agreed. Radiologists will go by what they know, and it's very possible that many of them haven't even seen a pouch. At the end of the day, it would be the surgeon or the GI's opinion that I would go by.

In fact, I have my own similar story. I was in the ER once with obstruction-type symptoms. The x-rays came back with something like "suspicious bulge in lower right quadrant." The ER doc wasn't very familiar with pouches and admitted the same. So I immediately emailed my surgeon (who was in the hospital but could not come down to see me in the ER). He access the x-rays and emailed back, "that's your pouch" and said the x-rays didn't show anything significant. I was very relieved that my surgeon was able to review them. If you are still worried, certainly ask your surgeon or GI to take a look.

Thanks everyone for taking the time to respond. We had another radiologist look at it. He said my small bowel is enlarged and dilated and that's what the other radiologist thought ws my colon. He said he's not familiar enough with Jpouches to know if that's normal or not. He suggested I call my surgeon and see if she will look at the scan to see if everything looks normal to her.