give your self a break that is a major surgery they did alot to your body I think you will be fine .God be with you

Hello, KC23. You will have pain, no doubt about it, but each patient experience different levels of pain. You will be connected by IV to a morphine pump, or perhaps you will have an epidural as well, so your pain will be well managed. Just remember to tell them if you feel any nausea or the urge to vomit. They will give you meds for it because they do not want you to vomit and possibly disturb your own incision. The surgery to remove the colon is the big surgery. If you got past that, you should be fine for the rest. 

Remember to brace your stomach with a hard pillow or a book if you cough or sneeze. If you don't, the pain in your abdominals will hurt very much. I kept a pillow AND a book within reach always. Try to walk once every hour for 10 minutes or more. When I could not sleep I would walk the halls. It was nice and quiet. Remember to drink warm fluids, tea or broth, while in hospital. Each day it will get better, especially if you walk, walk, walk to wake up your bowels. As soon as you pass gas or stool, and can eat solid food, they will discharge you. I was in hospital eight days for step one of colon and rectum removal, and pouch formation. A few weeks later I was five days in hospital for my reversal. I only had IV morphine in hospital, and was sent home with Diluadid but I did not take any. I used Tylenol extra strength for one or two days, then nothing was needed. There was pain but it was not bad enough to need meds. The hardest was trying to get out of bed or off the sofa because my abdominal area was so painful and those muscles were basically none existent. Now, eight months later I can get up without problems. Scoot to the edge of the bed, roll onto your side and push up with your arms. 

if weather permits, go outside for your daily walks. The fresh air will be good for you. Eat lots of high protein foods so that your tissues can heal faster. Be careful if eating nuts or leafy vegetables. I avoid them. Chew everything twice! Remember that each day the pain and discomfort will lessen. If you develop pouchitis, it will be managed with antibiotics. Eat good nutritious foods, drink lots of fluids, and walk a lot. You will be fine. I wish you the best.

Hello KC. You are currently doing fine. My son had a good amount of pain following his colon removal and pouch creation. His was done in one surgery. 12 weeks later he had the takedown to the j- pouch. He was 23/24 at the time.  I have to say, he was in a bit of pain. I belueve he was in the hospital for about 5 days for the take down, 7 for his first surgery. My understanding is that they did not remove his rectum. Take your time. Dont rush and think this is easy. Its very difficult on the body and mind. And age matters!   The older you are the more difficult recovery is.   Even though Jeff was fairly young, he has other issues and did nit tolerate the pain well. I think some of it was fear driven. Give yourself time to heal!  Good Luck!

I also had the 3 step procedure.  I will say the most difficult recovery for me was the first where they removed the colon.  All of my surgeries were done laporiscopically, but I was in much better shape for the next two surgeries.  My surgeon also had me wait at least 6 mos. between the first and second surgeries and 6 weeks between the second and third.    I was well healed and had built up my weight and strength prior to my last surgeries.  I was hiking, walking, and swimming in between.  I was also older going into surgery (60-61), and used very little pain meds when I was discharged, just mostly extra strength Tylenol.  My surgeon had prescribed oxy prior to my last surgery but I never used it.  Everyone is different in their healing process.  I had really expected things to be much worse than they turned out.

KC,

I am 38 and I just had the 2nd surgery 3 weeks ago (November 28th) and I have to say it was a BREEZE compared to the subtotal colectomy! I had a very easy surgery and recovery with very little pain (of course thanks also to the pain meds in the hospital) and would have been out of the hospital after 4 days if it were not for me having a lot of output once they had me on solids and the docs kindly wanting to make sure I wasn't dehydrated, so they did a lot of extra IV fluids and kept me one more day. I had read and was very nervous that after this surgery would have me in a lot more pain than the first and that was not the case at all. Its a lot of work for the surgeons, but you are going into this surgery far more healthy than when you had a diseased colon being removed, and so your body can bounce back a lot more quickly. I have noticed the following post op that I hope is helpful:

• I have a LOT more output with my new "loop illestomy" I believe because there is less small intestine being utilized, so the time between eating and output is a lot faster
• The output is a lot more liquid  (after surgery 1 if I ate carbs I would have a more paste-consistency output whereas now it is almost 100% liquid regardless of what I eat and it comes out about 15-20 minutes after I eat!). This means really stepping up the hydration to make sure you are making up for what you are loosing, but I also think this will slow down with more time post-op
• I have switched my pouching system to a high output bag from Hollister which has allowed me to sleep more hours without having to empty, which is GREAT! It also has a drain on the bottom instead of a "lock and roll" which is nice since there is so much liquid....
• FATIGUE: I am taking Lomotil for the excessive output mentioned before, and I am very tired, much more than after the first surgery, which I believe is from the meds, but FYI.

It will be great, dont worry and know that after this surgery you, like me, a 2/3 of the way there!!

Rest and give yourself time to heal. It takes a good while to feel like your old self again, but it will happen. My last surgery (ileostomy reversal) was 7 months ago and I feel great, like I'm finally back to my regular energy level. God bless.

Thank you all , where was your pain after the rectum removal and J pouch formation? Was it mainly near your butt or abdomen or where. And I was told by my surgeon that this surgery is just as serious and major as my colon removal was. I am just curious about the location of the pain and if it was just as bad as the colon removal and also inquiring about the amount of days most of you stayed in the hospital after the rectum removal as I'm taking a 3 step surgery, mine is the 27th and I was wondering if I'd probably be in the hospital on New Year's Eve ? Not like I'd be doing anything besides watching playoffs

KC: my surgery was laparoscopic, not sure if your's is, but I think it made the "pain" less post op since there are not any major incisions to heal.

My immediate post op pain was more around the incisions that did exist (mainly the one near pubic region which was about 2 inches and painful, the one that had a drain in it on my lefthand side and then actual stoma- I actually have 2 stomas now now and they have a TON of stitches which hurt.  

I would say by day 3 the pain was nominal and I didn't ever have any pain "internally" per se.  I stayed 4 days, the 4th being because I had a LOT of output and they were worried about dehydration. 

My biggest issue 3 weeks out is fatigue and a lot more output so keeping on top of drinking a lot of fluids, but was off all pain meds by week 2. Is that helpful?

Don't worry about the possibile genital damage. A very small percentage of dudes have had that damage happen to them. Everything works great for me down there!!!