You are definitely going to be pooping a lot if you just got your takedown done. This happens to everyone after their takedown surgery. This operation is a big deal and you need to have a lot of patience because you have brand new plumbing that needs to adjust and learn how to do a job it was never meant to do. Your diet is going to be a major contributor on how often your bathroom trips are and the consistency. As for your incision I had the same thing which I'm still caring for 9 weeks post op. Mine was never closed my surgeon wanted to leave it open and have it heal with a wet to dry process which seems like you have to do now. Its a really good natural way to heal and decreases the chance of infections. It does suck mine was about 3-4 inches deep about 5 inches wide and about 7 inches long. I couldn't look at it for the longest time. The nurses were changing it and then my wife took over. Now I just have to put triple antibiotic ointment on the gauze and tape it over.

Its a little early to start your regrets I think. There are a lot of people that haven't had the smoothest surgeries or recoveries but you gotta hang in there. You no longer have a disease. Your body is healing everyday now and learning how to operate with the new system. All I can say is be positive and take it one day at a time things will slowly get better.

We are both in a very similar situation because I had my take down the same week as you. I had an infected open wound with my colectomy, so I can relate to that as well. Right now I am dealing with butt burn, fatigue, and a small bout of depression. Even though I know it is normal and takes time, I really want to get back to college so that I can feel productive and healthy. I am regretting the surgery at the moment as well.

Wound packing is nasty business, no doubt about that. Anyway, we're all in this together. There are some other's who have just had the take down as well, so at least we can commiserate on this site! I feel you. I really really do.

The packing was a big deal for me as well. I remember my first time doing it by myself without a nurse's help my hands were shaky i was real nervous..but after a couple days of doing that i realized i cant really feel the thing..i grew more and more confident. I'm a month post op and now i just put some wound gel and band aid over it. mine was pretty shallow.

I hope your surgeon told you what to expect after surgery because you sound a bit surprised about pooping a lot. You are so early in the healing stage and it takes a bit of patience. You will get there though, don't worry. With my first step of surgery my incision popped open and I had to pack it. It was a royal pain but it did heal up.

Step,
I have had my suture line open up on me at least 7 or 8 times (I've had a lot of abdominal surgery) and even though I it is uncomfortable and annoying it is not the hardest part of the journey nor the most painful...Once you get the hang of cleanning-packing-covering it is pretty easy...after about a week or 2 they let you shower and then just pack and protect it so it is not a real problem...but I do understand why you are upset and how hard it is to deal with it along with everything else going on...unfortunately for us, this surgery is not just a quick fix but a long process and it will take a while for things to find there place and become managable...so like the others say, arm yourself with patience and ask us lots of questions...We will be here to try and help you through it all.
Sharon

To all that responded to my negative post Thank you for all the encouraging responses.
Sorry to be such a complainer. Its nice to know that manyothers have had to pack their open incision too. I thought I wouldbe able to go to work next week but I think I am rushng things which is not helping my recovery. I need to be thankful I no longer have the disease and I have insurance.
Today was a different day, Have not been to the bathroom much. My entire stomach/belly is sore and my back hurts. I might have surgery gas that is not getting out for some reason today.
does anyone know a good sight that I can research for a diet to follow? Immodiome does not make much of a differnece. I tried a bannana today and it seemed to limit the bathroom trips this morning.
I wish u all good health

You can try the dietary guidelines at the top of the page to start. You will find it is pretty much common sense stuff.

Jan

Don't rush things the body is amazing in the way it heals but sometimes when you rush things you could slow down your progression. Give you mind and body time to heal as long as it needs to take at least the disease is in the past and I'm sure for all the time you had to deal with a poisonous colon you should have no problem giving this a little patience to feel so much better.

Step, hang in there! They opened my takedown site due to an infection and it had to heal from the inside out.

IF you are curious, I have a video of my ostomy site healing. I took a picture every day when I changed the dressing and now have a time lapse video of the healing.

Here it is, if you are curious.

http://duncanmountain.com/Woun...19-to-10-20_2009.m4v


I second what phonix2g said, the body is amazing and pretty much all you have to do is let it do it's thing. Much, much harder to do than say, but it's doable.

For me, I turned the cleaning/gauze packing into a ritual. Nothing was allowed to disturb me for 15 minutes. If the phone rang, I ignored it (I usually turned off the ringer). If the doorbell rang, ignored.

No distractions. Just me and George (named my ostomy "George" and kept the name for the healing - I will hug him and squeeze him and call him George).

Call it mindfullness, meditation, zen, whatever you like, but it worked miracles for me. To have that time where I talked to my wound, told it how great it was doing, thanked my body for healing, etc.

Sure, sounds strange to say it out loud now. . .but it worked wonders for me. Your mileage may vary.

Dog,

My wound opened the day after the staples were removed so I am now going to be packing it daily. I am curious how long did your wound take to heal? The photos were unique way to see what I am in for.

Thanks,

mike

Those photos span from 8-19 to 10-20 (in the name of the file for easy remembering)

You can see in the pictures that very little seems to be happening for awhile, and then in the span of about a week, it closed.

Never any pain or itching, at least that I remember.

I had a problem with my stoma "hole" healing after takedown too. It's been 13 years ago, but I seem to remember it took about 4 months to heal completely, with packing daily! Not to discourage you...but it will heal eventually. It wasn't infected, it just took forever--maybe my immune system was still weak or something. For the pooping, check into imodium (OTC), lomotil (script), Bentyl (sript), whatever you can to slow things down. I still take them quite a bit.

I just had my take down on May 30th. I am kind of in a different situation than most of you as my colon was damaged due to severe necrotic pancreatitis. The pancreatitis was a side effect of chemo for stage iv breast cancer. I have no history of bowel disease so the surgeons were unsure of what the take down would produce afterwards. I feel almost guilty telling you all this, but I was pooping normally within two days. I had no diarrhea, burning, obstruction. It's been two weeks and my metabolism is back to normal. I have suffered a great deal for the past six years spending over 800 days in the hospital so some, most say I deserved this easy outcome. I'm not sure but in no way do I take it lightly. I feel for each and every one of you. My year with the ileostomy was horrible and I have no idea how you all deal with these different diseases of the bowl.

Anyway, I had no idea the incision was going to be such a big deal. I was so worried about the months/years of diarrhea that I must have missed this part. I spent 4 days in the hospital and then was released. Probably two days afterwards I felt like a new woman until I looked at my incision. I literally called my surgeon's nurse everyday worried that the incision was infected. They asked me out was normal but now I have read where infections are common and can be deadly. What worries me most is that I have a history of infections, including MRSA. Has anyone had any issues with infections?

Dog - I tried watching your video but couldn't get get it to play. Any suggestions?

Plays for me with Quicktime player.

If you don't have that, maybe try the VLC player (http://www.videolan.org/vlc/index.html)

Finally got it to work. Thank you for posting the pics. Definitely helpful! Mine looks very similar