hey good luck Jen! Its been a long time since I had my takedown so I am probably not your best resource. but if I had to opine, I would say, be sure to have your pantry stocked with easy to make, easy to digest foods that work for you. I have a friend who is a nurse and very disciplined who when she had a resection, chose to live on liquid nutritional supplements for several weeks to be easier on her intestines. as she explains the body needs caloric nutrition to heal, and liquid nutritional supplements deliver it efficiently and least offensively to the guts. while it does seem that there is large variability in tolerance to foods I personally find the less INsoluble fiber that I have the better off I am.

I would also have your favorite diaper rash cream to be ready to apply as the infamous butt burn seems to be rather common. explanations seem to vary from sensitive skin to more bile acid being sent through the system and not absorbed as you no longer have a colon. some swear by using wet wipes or whatever you call them, and I can see their appeal.

my surgeon also told to me to take a spoonful of Metamucil daily, which I did for decades and it definitely served to create more form to my stools.

good luck and good recovery and healing to you!

Thank you! Just wondering how long it took you to get back to work. I'm shooting for two weeks and the dr thinks I'm overly ambitious.

It depends on several things, including what kind of work you do and how things go. Two weeks would be much sooner than average - I wouldn't recommend counting on it.

yeah I wouldn't target 2 weeks. be kind to yourself.