hello all... I'm new to this site.. to sum it up i was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis in 2007.. was good for 3 years and then in 2010 i had a very bad flare up which lasted the majority of 5 years... on every medication possible gained 60 lbs from high dose steroids .. try all the biologicals became allergic to remicade tried the rest with no success. finally decided to go to the ER after 3 days of high fevers in october 2015.. was so sick i felt myself dying.. they performed emergency surgery to do a sub total colectomy.. surgeon said my instestine was paper thin and blue i wouldn't have survived the next 24 hours. after that had some skin irritation around my stoma.. they thought maybe pyoderma .. gave me cream it went away in two weeks.. had j pouched creation in march 2016.. all went ok and then 1 week later had abscesses in pelvis that needed to be drained.. spent 4 weeks in the hospital bc they were hard to get to to drain.. was fine the whole summer had reversal scheduled for october 4 2016.. did an mir in august and turned out i had an abscess most likely left over from previous.. had no symptoms of it but doctor felt it was best to open me up and drain and clean out the area on sept 20 2016... 3 weeks later develpoed 4 abscesses in my pelvis spent 2 weeks in hospital draining them.. one had an infection the others were fine just fluid build up.. got out of the hospital and have been fine ever since.. did just an mri on monday and everything looks fine inflammation is much better not perfect but much better and abscesses are clear and what they thought may or may not have been a fistula is gone.. went to doctors apt today and he is telling me the signs are there that they j pouch reversal will happen but may fail.. I'm very nervous now i am only 30 years old and feel fine,. some minor setbacks but once they are drained i feel fine and normal again.. no symptoms .. has anyone every had these problems.. does your j pouch work and are you normal as can be? did anyones doctor say this to them.. i don't understand how so early he can say it may fail.. please anyones experiences and advice is greatly appreciated... thanks in advance!
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It's strange for a surgeon to say this without explaining what extra risk he believes exists. I recommend that you ask. In your situation I might switch surgeons. Abscesses can develop for many reasons, but one cause is poor surgical technique. Repeated abscess development makes me more concerned about that.
I believe your doctor was just trying to be honest and tell you that your risk of pouch failure is higher than average because of your history of leaks and abscesses. He probably was just clumsy at it, and wound up scaring you instead of just informing you. Since your colectomy was during emergency circumstances, the fact you had these complications is not surprising.
Basically, septic complications are associated with increased risk of pouch failure. I had a large pelvic abscess post op. That was in 1995, and I still have my pouch, if that makes you feel any better. The main thing is that risk is not the same thing as a sure thing.
Jan 