Anyone else with an ileo-anal pouch?

[GoodbyeRubyTuesday]

I thought it might be nice to have a support thread for anyone with an ileo-anal pouch, or indeed any other bowel re-plumbing.

It'd be lovely to 'meet' anyone else going through this from a selfish point of view I'd also love some reassurance that I will one day get my life back!

Hi. I don't personally have a pouch, but my DH has just had his surgery to remove the final part of his colon and have his pouch made. We are waiting for him to heal and then the pouch will be checked to see that it works. He should be plumbed back in in the spring.

I can only write about this from my own point of view, but he seems quite cheerful and positive about his future without Ulcerative Colitis, which he says is far worse than what he is going through now.

What stage are you at with your pouch OP? How are you feeling?

Hello Vinny,

Sorry I probably should've put a brief background in my OP but didn't want to make it too long and put people off.

I can imagine it must be quite a relief for your DH to be free of his colon after a long time with UC, I have met lots of people with it and know it is massively troublesome. I only had very mild problems pre-op so I am rather resentful, but the post-op symptoms are really not as bad as I understand UC can be so I'm sure he will be much better off with the pouch.

I had the first stage op last November and everything joined back up last January. I had six months of chemo afterwards as I had bowel cancer secondary to FAP so that has delayed the healing process somewhat. It's unusual for the op to be used alongside chemo as usually for bowel cancer they'd just remove a section of colon and they would usually catch FAP before cancer developed, so I'm a bit of an oddity according to my team!

At the moment I am still waiting for my bowel to heal from the chemo so I'm getting a bit fed up as I feel like the pouch is ruling my life. But I much prefer it to the ileostomy, which I absolutely hated. My surgeon has almost run out of ideas to try so offered to take down the pouch and go back to a stoma which has made me all the more grateful for my pouch :) I know it will settle down eventually!

I hope your DH is recovering well from the surgery