Hello I’m 23 and I just got my takedown July 12th so I’m a week post surgery, but I do have questions. My first procedure was done May 31st where I had a temporary Stoma for about a month and then they reconnected me so I can use my J-Pouch now. I still do go to the bathroom quite often and it’s kind of forming but still hurts when I go because of it still being a little bit liquid. I do take Imodium before bed and now I take one when I wake up to help through out the day. I told my boss I’d be able to go back August 12th which would be a month after this surgery, but I’m afraid if I don’t have improvement next week I might need to take another week off. So how did everyone else recover from this? I know some people got theirs done years ago and I got mine recently at Brigham and Women’s hospital in Boston and had the best doctor possible to do this. He actually uses the robotic arms to do the first part and I had a special liquid to drink the day of called Clearfast, I was able to walk the same day of my surgery and was out on the third day and the second one I went home the next day.
Emuhyee, you don’t say what you expect to be your new normal. After J-pouch surgery, a normal BM has a consistency more like pudding than solid. A normal frequency is 4-6 times per day. The most important benefit is that the urgency should be gone. People report highly variable amount of time for this. I was most of the way there in 6 weeks after my surgery, and some people say it takes them a year to fully stabilize.