Takedown question - ride home from hospital

Congratulations on your takedown!!!

You should be ok. Make sure you have travel packets of baby wipes with to take into the rest room, should you need to stop and go. Plus whatever you are using for your butt burn, if you have any, like calmoseptine. I like to take a hand sanitizer too, just in case the bathroom sink is not too clean. Pack an extra pair of undies in a zip lock bag for insurance but you won't need it. You can also wear a pad of some sort if you are worried about not getting to the toilet on time.

These are all for worse case situations. I have an entire little make-up bag full of bathroom stuff that I take with into the bathrooms. That way I don't even need to take my purse. I don't carry all of the above anymore but still carry my underware and have never needed to use them. It's a throw back to my old UC days and some bad times that we never forget!

You are going to be just fine!

My drive home was the same distance. Stop if you need to.

Sue

Hi Wendy...my ride home was a little over 4 hours. I wore a sanitary pad and kind of half laid down in the back seat. It was fine. You should be fine. Try not to relax and not think so much about it. I know it's easy to say!

Thanks everyone. I really appreciate the comments. It's hard not to think about it because when I think of 20+ BM's per day, I immediately think about a flare up which means extreme urgency and lack of control. It sounds like this will be much easier than that situation.

You guys have helped put me at ease, thank you!!

hi i to have a s pouch you are first person i have seen on here with one i had my 1st surg nov 13 2nd april 13 hoping to have takedown in may

In my experience,the cool thing about your new pouch is when you have to go,it should not be explosive, like when you had Colitis.I could actually wait 10 or 15 minutes.I flew 1 1/2 hours home from Phoenix,and don't recall needing the restroom.Just go before you hit the road,and you should be fine.

ash good luck with surgery hope all is well.were are you having survey done?i had mine at loyola dr said they have only done 1 other s pouch in 20 years

Thanks again everyone. If I am also able to hold it for about 10-15 minutes, I will be fine because we should be able to make it to a rest stop or gas station by then.

UJohnjc - I am having my surgery at UW Madison. My surgeon always does S-Pouches. He seems to think that they have a little bit more capacity than a J-Pouch. I'm not sure if that is true or not. I suspect that each surgeon thinks whatever surgery type they do is the best one. If you are the first S-Pouch that your doctor did, why did he do it? Why didn't he do a J-Pouch if that is what he is used to doing? It would make me very nervous to be one of the first ones getting a procedure by a surgeon. My surgeon has been doing S-Pouches for 10-15 years so that made me feel pretty comfortable with him. As far as your reversal - my surgeon said 10 weeks was the absolute earliest he would do it. He wanted to wait 12 weeks but he gave in and agreed to 10. He said things just aren't healed enough to do it before then. I am having this done in two steps vs. your three steps so maybe that makes a difference in healing. How are you doing with your appliance/bag? I had a terrible time for the first 8 weeks. Now that I have the hang of it, it's time for the reversal. I am so excited, I just can't believe it. 10 weeks ago, I never thought I could make it through 10 weeks of time. I wish you the best of luck with your reversal too but May would only be 4-6 weeks since your second surgery. My surgeon said you really only have one shot at getting this right and if you hurry things along too much, it can ruin your chances of a good outcome. Please don't rush into anything; just make sure your body is healed and ready for the reversal. I know the waiting is horrible, but if helps have a healthy outcome, it is worth the wait. I wish you the best. Keep me posted.

Thanks again everyone. I can't tell you how much this forum and all of you have really helped me get through this. I can't imagine how hard it was for people to go through this ordeal before this kind of forum/technology was available. It would have been much more devastating and isolating. Thank you!

Wendy

they did s pouch cause my intestines would not stretch enough for j pouch they had 3 dr trying to stretch it out and i just saw i messed up had 1st surge april 2013 2nd nov 2013 having ct scan april 14th to see how pouch looks then scope to double check then surg i got used to bag pretty quick was much better then before 40-50 bm a day so was happy for bag getting sick of it though but still don't miss bm i know they will be back after surg but hoping transition is good I'm excited and nervous not sure what to think of this butt burn good luck on friday keep me updated please

Everyone's recovery is unique. You may be pleasantly surprised that you WONT be going to the bathroom excessively. (I didn't). Not everyone does. I had an hour and a half drive home and I was totally fine. Even stopped for a bite to eat. Good luck!

Thank so much Marianne. I'm happy to hear a more positive takedown story, that's just great and very encouraging! I am hopeful that my recovery will be more like yours. I'm leaving for the hospital in two hours so I will know soon enough . I will keep you posted.

Did you have high and liquidy output from your loop ileostomy? I'm just curious to see if that had any impact on your recovery. I have had high liquidy output and was forever trying to thicken it up without much success. That seems to be pretty common.

Thanks for taking the time to give me something positive to wish for. Prior to your post, I just thought everyone had the high number of BM's, I didn't think there was any chance of things going differently, I'm glad I know this now. It's always nice to have positive wishes and hopes when going into something like this. Even if I'm not like you, it will still make the next couple of days easier for me, so thank you.

TE Marie: thank you too, I have my makeup sized bag with all of your suggestions (wipes, calmoseptine, hand sanitizer, pads and extra set of undies) all packed and ready for my road trip. After all of the comments I have received, I'm feeling pretty comfortable with my long drive home now. Thank you.

Hope it goes (or went) smoothly! Update when you feel up to it!

Hi Wendy.
John from Australia.
I had an S pouch done in 1981,one of the first in Australia and was told when I first had it done to try and hold it in a bit longer each time you felt the urge to go so the pouch would stretch a bit each time.
It worked for me as the drive home from hospital was about 3 hours so I had no worries.
Please let us know how you go but I think you will be ok.
Best Regards from Aus.
John.

Thanks everyone. Surgery went very well and the ride home was no problem. I had surgery on Friday, came home on Monday and have been doing pretty good. I have had 5-7 BM's most days and have only had to get up during the night a couple of times. It is so nice not having the extreme urgency that I would face with UC flare-ups. I have had not had the burning that everyone talks about but have been using Calmoseptine constantly as a preventative measure since my first BM after surgery.

The only problem I'm having now is abdominal cramping. I get severe cramping throughout the day, it hurts like crazy but thankfully only lasts about 30 seconds each time and then it goes away. I'm still on a low fiber diet so I'm really not sure what could be causing it. I get it numerous times throughout the day so it's very uncomfortable. It feels like what severe diarrhea cramps used to feel like before surgeries. It kind of resonates through my entire GI tract and then goes away. I do not have to have a BM, it just goes away as fast as it comes on.

Has anyone experienced this? I don't know what to do to fix it. It does seem to get worse after I eat but doesn't seem to be dependent on any certain type of food.

Thanks everyone!

I have had the same type of cramping...daily and constantly form the time of my surgery till about five months after.
But now it seems to be dissipating.
I still have cramps but not as often.
Richard