My dilemma

Goody2shoesMember

I have stage 1 of j pouch surgery scheduled for October, there is still a question mark over whether I have Ulcerative Colitis or Crohn's disease, but the 'evidence' as I see it suggests UC (first diagnosed in 1996)it developed after I stopped smoking. I have stopped and started smoking after failed treatments. Originally stopping smoking for 7 years (in 1995) I have stopped and restarted several times as
Smoking does control the disease (for me)

2 years ago my sister died from lung cancer, my first encounter with anybody suffering from this dreadful disease

And really that is my dilemma, (I stopped smoking but I had to have my bowel removed so that I could, all sounds a bit drastic doesn't it)

And then there is the fear of what life is going to be like with the j-pouch after the long recovery, and I just know I won't be able to cope with the temporary ileo (I was hoping this could be done in one surgery - but no..!)

I'm getting cold feet - perhaps if there hadn't been a 6 month waiting list I wouldn't have had so much time to dwell on it

I need convincing!

8/3/1210:35 PM

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Original Post

mgmt10Member

I'm just going to say it straight....Don't smoke!!! Really, I think it's more drastic to slowly kill yourself smoking than having your diseased colon removed. Not sure how you can even think about it having watched your sister die from lung cancer. Same thing happened to me. My UC developed after I quit smoking (UC is in my family but i believe qutting smoking was my trigger) only I wasn't about to go back and start up again.

Yes, the surgeries are tough but once you are done with them, that's it...no more UC. I don't mean to sound like this is a lecture but I would rather see someone like yourself healthy. Oh, and you get used to the temporary ileo very quickly. Key word there...temporary! I love my j pouch. It gave me my life back.