ileostomy reversal

teacht
teacht Member Posts: 4
edited March 2014 in Colorectal Cancer #1
Hi! I am a 42 year old woman who was diagnosed and operated on for rectal cancer in June of 2008. I have a temporary ileostomy and after a couple bumps in the road during recovery including the need to have scar tissue removed at the area of my resection I am scheduled for a reversal at the end of September. I was wondering if anyone could advise me on what to expect. I have heard that I will be going through potty training 101. If anyone has any information regarding this, I would be so grateful....

Comments

  • Denise1966
    Denise1966 Member Posts: 90
    #2
    ileostomy reversal
    Hi teacht,
    I just had surgery for rectal cancer in June too. I had my ileostomy reversed 4 weeks ago and it does take some getting used to. Plan on staying around the house for awhile, The first 2 weeks were pretty difficult, I think I was going around 10-20 times a day. Lately it seems to have calmed down to where I'm going 4-5 times a day. I'm still nervous when I leave the house, but it's getting much better. I hope it goes good for you.
    I had a sigmoidoscopy before the reversal and there was some scar tissue, how did they remove that? does it come back? My surgeon didn't remove it.
    Let me know if I can be of any other help.
    Denise
  • teacht
    teacht Member Posts: 4
    #3
    Denise1966 said:

    ileostomy reversal
    Hi teacht,
    I just had surgery for rectal cancer in June too. I had my ileostomy reversed 4 weeks ago and it does take some getting used to. Plan on staying around the house for awhile, The first 2 weeks were pretty difficult, I think I was going around 10-20 times a day. Lately it seems to have calmed down to where I'm going 4-5 times a day. I'm still nervous when I leave the house, but it's getting much better. I hope it goes good for you.
    I had a sigmoidoscopy before the reversal and there was some scar tissue, how did they remove that? does it come back? My surgeon didn't remove it.
    Let me know if I can be of any other help.
    Denise

    Hi Denise,Thanks for
    Hi Denise,
    Thanks for responding. Wow, you did not need to have an ileostomy for long...that's great. Hopefully that will mean that it won't take your system too long to get back into the swing of things. I'm just ready to get this show on the road. My scar tissue was caught during a sigmoidoscopy too. My doctor removed it during a colonoscopy this past week. Chances are yours was not that bad and did not need to be removed. My surgeon wanted to make sure that it was in fact scar tissue and I think I had a substantial amount. A little is pretty normal I believe after a resection. I probably could have had my reversal sooner, but my surgeon is out of town for the next couple weeks, so I will need to wait until the end of September.
    I had laproscopic surgery for my resection. When they reverse the ileostomy is there a big incision? I think my surgeon said I would be in the hospital for 3-5 days. Do you recall how long you were in the hospital?
    Thanks for your help...
    teacht
  • StacyGleaso
    StacyGleaso Member Posts: 1,233 Member
    #4
    No problems for me
    Hello!

    I was stage 4, diagnosed at age 33. I had liver mets. My ileostomy was reversed after 9 months. Surgery January, chemo for 6 months, and surgery in September. Oh yeah, that was almost 7 yrs ago!!! I had no problems after the ileostomy was reversed. My doc said to expect changes for up to 36 months, but I was fine from day 1. No crazy bathroom stories, nothing. I was happy to be considered boring at this point in this journey! lol

    Best wishes to you and a future of good health.

    Hugs,
    Stacy
  • Denise1966
    Denise1966 Member Posts: 90
    #5
    teacht said:

    Hi Denise,Thanks for
    Hi Denise,
    Thanks for responding. Wow, you did not need to have an ileostomy for long...that's great. Hopefully that will mean that it won't take your system too long to get back into the swing of things. I'm just ready to get this show on the road. My scar tissue was caught during a sigmoidoscopy too. My doctor removed it during a colonoscopy this past week. Chances are yours was not that bad and did not need to be removed. My surgeon wanted to make sure that it was in fact scar tissue and I think I had a substantial amount. A little is pretty normal I believe after a resection. I probably could have had my reversal sooner, but my surgeon is out of town for the next couple weeks, so I will need to wait until the end of September.
    I had laproscopic surgery for my resection. When they reverse the ileostomy is there a big incision? I think my surgeon said I would be in the hospital for 3-5 days. Do you recall how long you were in the hospital?
    Thanks for your help...
    teacht

    Hi Teacht,

    I had laproscopic surgery also for my resection. The scar is about 3 inches long, they didn't have to make another incision where the stoma was, they just closed that up. I went into the hospital on a wednesday and came out on friday, my doc just wanted me to have a bowel movement. The surgery was alot easier then the first one, I barely used any pain meds.

    How much of your rectum did they remove? Are you doing chemo after? I start this coming wednesday. My doc wanted me to have my reversal first, I lost about 20 lbs with the ileostomy and he figured I would be better off without it.

    Stacy, that's great how well you've done. I only hope the same for myself and everyone else.

    Denise

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