Considering surgery need advice on surgeon

I know you said San Antonio or Houston, but the best in my opinion is Dr. Crim in Irving, texas:

http://txcolorectal.com/randy-w-crim-m-d/

Thank you for your response! Did he perform surgery on you?

He was present when I had my J-Pouch surgery and did a procedure on me 6 months ago. He is really good and studied under the best.

You should consult with Dr. Crim before you decide for a second opinion.

Interesting similarities in symptoms with me. But different causes.... Lialda caused me pancreatitis and laying in bed for 30days sick with UC caused me pulmonary embolisms.

I feel your pain! Did they make you stay on blood thinners for life after pe? I am bc they say I'm susceptible bc of uc. If you had the knowledge that you had now would you have elected to take your colon out? I have two young children and I am trying to do what is best for them. So that I can have chance at a longer life for them. Now that I have been taking medications for just over two years I feel like I'm one drug away from a near death experience. My mom past at 52 with complications with what started as IBS and rhumatory athritis. She did what she thought was best but I still believe all the medications she was taking were only making things worse. Unfortunately ibs is different and she really didn't have an option to have it all removed. But I do but I would be devastated if I had my colon removed and still had more inflammation in other organs. As I have been reading can still happen. Do you have to take any medications now? Thank you all for your responses this is the first time I have actually talked about this with others that have uc and I really do appreciate it!

I am not any meds now. At some point during my 5 weeks in the hospital (with numerous complications), they put a filter in me (somewhere near my groin) to prevent any further blood clots.

Sad part for me now, is that my ex-husband just died from blood clots 2 weeks ago. He broke both feet and ended up in a wheelchair for 6 weeks, thus the blood clots. We had finally made our peace with each other in June (after 3 years and a nasty divorce), but blood clots are silent killers and I am lucky that I was admitted to the hospital in time. Just barely in time, but overall, I am now healthy, vibrant 52 year old female.

I did not have a choice. Matter of fact, I did not know there was a choice. Never heard of a J-pouch until after I lost my colon.

I'm so sorry for your loss! Losing my mom was the worst thing I have ever faced. I don't know what your situation is but I found it easier to cope with her loss by talking about her often to those around me. It's great to hear your on the mend though. I feel the same way when I had my pe all I had was shortness of breath and back pain. I was pretty down while in the hospital but the doc set me straight when he said most people that have pe are either dead or have a heart attack. I quickly became thankful after hearing that! But now the docs have me scared to even think about getting of the warfarin. Which is counter initiative to my colitis. Hence the intreat in hearing from others about living life without your colon. It's scary to think about but even scary to know if I don't act it may be to late! I currently take prednisone, warfarin and folbic. I refuse to take any of the drugs above mesalamine which has proven ineffective for me now. I just ordered a pro biotic called vsl#3 and I'm hoping in time this will help me heal not just mask symptoms. If not I kinda feel like this is the last ditch effort. I don't know if any of you have issues with a constant post nasal drip or cough but before taking the folbic I did and it usually turned into a bad chest cold that would lay me out for a week. I can say since taking the folbic which has b12 I haven't had a cold in two years. I don't know if that will work the same for everyone but it has really helped me. It did take it about a month before I noticed a difference though. So for those that have had their colon removed would you say it has defiantly improved your life for the long term?

I honestly do not remember much about specific details or medications during my hospital stay. I constantly had a drip of morphine, antibiotics, and whatever the heck else they needed to pump into me. In addition to the PICC line, I also had a wound vac, an abcess drain bag and of course my ostomy bag. FYI: I was allergic to mesalamine and could only be treated with Prednisone for my UC.

I had an apparatus sticking out of every possible side of my body.

To recover from such an ordeal is indeed a miracle and once you have adjusted to the "new you", life is good, if not better because you have so much more appreciation for the little things.

My friends and family give me above and beyond support, that I will never take them for granted again. If anybody I know ever needs help, I will be there for them, because so many people were there for me.

As for coping with my ex-husband's death (still hard to call him an "ex" after 20 years together), Based on the advice of a friend who recently lost her mother, I now talk to him directly in heaven, confess my fears and consider what his advice would be for any given situation. I have already experienced the loss of him and our marriage during our divorce, so I had already overcome the extremely rough part of losing him. Unfortunately, he was also abusing meth, until he broke his feet, removed the demons from his life and acknowledge and apologized for all the wrongs he did to me and my daughters. I don't know if he had a premonition that he "might" die at the time he finally sincerely apologized to me, but it certainly helped to give me peace and closure.