Do you end up feeling normal?

I'd wager that you'll be back to building forts in the future. And I'm sure you know that drinking out of the crick won't be happening.

If that pressure continues or if you start experiencing fevers, see your doctor just to rule out an abscess.

kathy

The creek definitely will not be happening lol. I have had the pressure since takedown, it seems to have lessened a good deal though.

Then I think all is good for you. Start drawing up those plans for the fort.

Kathy

For me, I just wound up accepting a new normal. Yep, it is different, but I learned to take it in stride. We went camping this past weekend and it was no big deal. We went on hikes, toasted marshmallows, and had afternoon margaritas. I take long plane and car trips and enjoy life as much as the next guy.

Jan

Jan, during those long car trips do you do anything to prepare? I used to love to travel around and want to get back to doing it so bad.

Well, we generally take breaks every 2-3 hours. Don't stop for a meal without using the restroom, that sort of thing. I also probably avoid foods I know will zip right through me. Used to be quite a few that did that, but now it is mostly just spinach.

We do not go places where you are a day's drive from a toilet. I do take Imodium on a regular basis, and have since my surgery. I bring extra when I travel, just in case I need to double up. I also always bring a course of Flagyl with me if we are traveling more than just overnight. Nothing worse than getting pouchitis on vacation and nothing to treat it with, especially in a foreign country! Some people take Pepto Bismol prophylactically when traveling to prevent pouchitis, but I haven't done it and have been OK. I've never even needed the Flagyl while traveling.

Jan

The only restriction I feel is when I am on a group tour in a foreign country, I eat very little during the day because I know bathroom access is going to be limited to when the tour bus has regularly scheduled stops. Also, in some countries I've visited, access to western style toilets were very limited or not available at all and I don't do well using a hole in the ground!

Yeah it's a new normal and it's all good. I do everything I did before I had UC so no huge changes for me. Next week we are doing the tourist thing in Washington DC with the kids. Aside from maybe a few extra trips to the public restrooms, it will be all pretty normal. Last year we went on a cruise to Bermuda. If you have ever been on a cruise then you know all you do it eat yourself into a coma. My j pouch handled it all very well much to my surprise since I just don't eat that way. I have never eaten so much stuff in my life!

I have been looking into this pept thing..think i may start it when i am off my round of cipro and flagyl...flagyl puts a metallic taste in my mouth and ruins taste of alot of things, especially water...becomes disgusting. it does seem to be very effective though.

I just got over any bathroom issues a long time ago. I go a wee bit more frequently, but not enough to really alter my life, honestly. Never had car issues or traveling issues. Never needed things to slow me down or thicken things. Maybe you'll get lucky, too.

I feel *pretty* normal, whatever that may be!

I feel normal.

I engage in a lot of normal activities without giving my jpouch a second thought. I have done a lot of international travel (South America, Southeast Asia, Europe, the Middle East) with my jpouch and I don't do anything differently abroad than I do at home. I indulge in the local foods, and take advantage of every adventurous opportunity presented to me. I've climbed temples in Myanmar for sunset, taken an all-day long boat up the Mekong, stopping at villages along the way. I've hiked 200 miles across England and a hundred more miles across Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. I've hiked in and out of the Grand Canyon (in 107 degree weather thanks to Vitalyte) and have completed the John Muir trail in the Sierras.

Give yourself a year to find your new normal and then get out and enjoy all that life has to offer.

Sue

Good Lord suebear! your traveling is what i have always wanted to do! in time i def am going to try new things..everything is still so new, making a different thread so as not to derail this one about something thats been bothering me for a couple weeks now but when its all said and done i want to start working out, walking/running..etc and hope to be in a healthy enough feeling that in October i want to go on vacation somewhere, just for 4 days or so.

Im into my 5th month since take down and I just went befor a general Military Tribunal to go back into uniform in a Reserve/ part-time job. I have to prove my j pouch won't affect me to much after a month of a 3 month trial all is good. wish me luck.

Having UC for 15 years and learning to live with it was my normal. Two bad flare ups in the beginning and what I call light to medium flare ups through the years and learning to control them as they came along. I was recently diagnosed with High Grade Dysplasia and a choice between having a permanent Ileostomy or a J-Pouch, which brought me to this forum. I have read so much negative and horror stories about the J-Pouch, that I was on the verge of going with an Ileostomy, when my husband told me to read this section. It is nice to read some positive!!!! Now I am not sure what to do again. I am 62 years old and I keep thinking that if I were younger, I would definitely go for the J-Pouch thinking that my body would adapt better, but I am in pretty good health at this point. I have been through knee replacements for both knees, which was a breeze compared to what I am faced with. It's been hard to wrap my head around this one for some reason. I am usually a pretty positive person and can handle anything that comes along, but I am having such a hard time with this. This whole thing scares the crap out of me (no punt intended). Maybe it's because I have to have this surgery when I feel like there is really nothing wrong with me!!!!! All of your stories have inspired me especially Murray, whose history some what looks like mine. I know having a good surgeon is important and wanted to go to Cleveland Clinic, but my Insurance wouldn't cover it all, so now I am going to University of Michigan Hospital in Ann Arbor, Michigan. There isn't a lot of history on this procedure on the internet for them, so maybe that's my problem. If there are other positive sections and forums out there, please let me know and thanks!!!!!