j pouch surgeons questions

You can't go wrong with any of the Dr's at the Cleveland Clinic. I just had steps 1 & 2 done by Dr Gorgun. I chose him over Remzi because he does Step 2 via the Da Vinci so recovery was much easier because the only real incision is where he places the stoma and supposedly can get a lower cut to reduce chance of cuffitis later on (which was a concern of mine). Gorgun began studying under Remzi and then went to Cornell Weill to learn robotics so I was very comfortable having trained at two of the best hospitals.

Dr. Church was my surgeon, I highly recommend him. I had a colectomy and j pouch construction in one step. Had my surgery on a Wednesday and was out of the hospital by Sunday and back at work eleven days after surgery (desk job). My takedown was performed eleven weeks later on a Wednesday, I was discharged on Friday and back to work on Monday. Everyone's recovery is different, I was fortunate to have no complications with either surgery. I found Dr. Church and his nurse both to be very friendly and easy to talk to.

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Pain management tactics.....been suffering for over 13 years I'd like to be comfortable during the process.

I was hooked up to a morphine pump. I would be careful about the amount of pain meds you use, because excessive pain meds could lead to a postoperative ileus. I had one and felt if I used less pain meds it could have been avoided. This is also what I was told.

You aren't going to be comfortable. Walking around after surgery sucks, but you have to do it or else you could end with an ileus or enhance the chances of it happening.

Being comfortable is not the point of surgery. Getting better long term is.

Good luck.

Definitely walk around as soon as you feel you can, even if it's just a few feet. It gets the bowels going and helps recovery.
I'm amazed that someone was back to work a few days after their takedown! Crap, I couldn't even imagine going back to work 3 months after! Lucky for me I stay at home with my toddler. Wow!
Katie

what is the da vinci - how does that allow a lower cut? Thank you.

da Vinci refers to a robotic surgical platform. If a lower cut is indeed possible, my guess is that it is due to greater surgical precision.