Responses will vary, but really, either is fine. If you feel you are a dead end with your surgeon, it probably is time to see a GI. Nothing against your surgeon, but sometimes you just need that different point of view.

Jan

Like Jan said both will do but make sure your GI has experince with Jpouches. My GI and CRS have each other on speed dial so if one can't take care of me the other can.

Opinions on this will vary. Some surgeons want to continue to treat you and see you regularly after surgery. Other surgeons will discharge you to the care of a GI once the slicing and dicing is done. Although my surgeon is fantastic and tried to be as accessible as possible when I had questions or issues, the fact of the matter is that he's an extremely busy chief of staff dealing with dozens of surgery patients weekly, and he wasn't always immediately available. We got to a point at about 3 years post takedown that he decided to discharge me from care. In his eyes, I was no longer "surgical." He did leave it open ended, in that if I had a problem, I could always be referred back to him. At that point, I hadn't even seen my old GI in over 4 years, and wasn't interested in going back to him. So I requested a referral to a new GI who had experience with the j-pouch. I'm very pleased with my new GI, and he also seems more accessible than my surgeon, so in the long run I think it will all work out for me.

That being said, I would have been happy to stay with my surgeon long term, if not for the time constraints.

I can't agree more, though, that if you do opt for a GI, make sure he/she has experience with the pouch. You might be surprised that not all of them do.

One more point: if you cannot find a GI who has pouch experience (not a crime or a deal killer in my mind- and not everyone has a lot of choices available) make sure that he is at least willing to learn and open to suggestions you may make from what you learn here and elsewhere. My doc is willing to discuss things I read about in journal articles, etc, and willing to try different approaches. I definitely would not stay with someone I did not like or treated me indifferently.

If you are a tough case, then lots of specific experience is more important, not so much for the routine maintenance care.

Jan