Monday 8th September the day had finally come to have my Ileostomy reversed. It had been a day I had been waiting for since the 25th April 2012..... 866 days. I write this just over a week later in what I can only describe as one of the hardest weeks I've had in a few years.
Surgery itself was pretty successful, or so my surgeons tell me. I went in about 8am, after a few medicines and antibiotics I was put to sleep not quite knowing if I would wake up with our without a pouch. In the preceding few months before surgery my surgical team had discovered a block in my large bowel and were unsure to what was causing it.
Due to that, instead of the small loop stoma takedown I was needed to be cut back open in order to investigate what was happening.
I woke up just after midday and I remember just laying in the bed falling in and out of sleep. Usually in that scenario I would have quickly checked if I had a pouch still but in this case I didn't. For once I was content on either option and whatever was needed was there. I believe it was about an hour later my surgeon saw me and told me that it was a success and they reversed the stoma, as well as removing more of my large bowel.
The next few hours I drifted in and out of sleep repeatedly, something that followed throughout the night. Although I tried to stay awake and watch the first episode of big brother I couldn't do it..... yes I do realise that maybe, just maybe big brother put me to sleep not the medication.
The next day was fairly uneventful, I went for a walk with the physio team and apart from that I was fairly contained to my room due to having drips and a catheter still in. The problem with the that is you can't get a t-shirt or pants on so if you want to walk then usually you have to give the patients a show by exposing your behind.... something I am sure the residents of ward 7 were glad I didn't do.
Really that Tuesday I spent just anxious, anxious that nothing would pass like last time. Anxious that again I would go through that excruciating pain which would result in another stoma. But Tuesday night I finally had my first bowel movement, I'm pretty sure I hadn't been that excited about this since I was a child.
The remainder of the stay in hospital was exceptionally uneventful. Drips came out, catheter came out, wound got cleaned and I just tried to start walking. Oh and the big thing which was I was constantly dashing to the bathroom, so apparently it takes quite a while for your large bowel to get off holiday mode and into work mode.
On Thursday, day 4 after the operation I was discharged from hospital to recover at home. For those following that is a new personal best in terms of hospital stints.
This last week has now been recovering at home, which has been really tough. The first few days I think I went to the bathroom 20+ times and there were points that I wondered if I had made the biggest mistake of my life with getting the reversal done. But after Sunday and trying Imodium things have suddenly improved greatly, suddenly now I can see that things will get better and my body will adjust.
Surgery itself was pretty successful, or so my surgeons tell me. I went in about 8am, after a few medicines and antibiotics I was put to sleep not quite knowing if I would wake up with our without a pouch. In the preceding few months before surgery my surgical team had discovered a block in my large bowel and were unsure to what was causing it.
Due to that, instead of the small loop stoma takedown I was needed to be cut back open in order to investigate what was happening.
I woke up just after midday and I remember just laying in the bed falling in and out of sleep. Usually in that scenario I would have quickly checked if I had a pouch still but in this case I didn't. For once I was content on either option and whatever was needed was there. I believe it was about an hour later my surgeon saw me and told me that it was a success and they reversed the stoma, as well as removing more of my large bowel.
The next few hours I drifted in and out of sleep repeatedly, something that followed throughout the night. Although I tried to stay awake and watch the first episode of big brother I couldn't do it..... yes I do realise that maybe, just maybe big brother put me to sleep not the medication.
The next day was fairly uneventful, I went for a walk with the physio team and apart from that I was fairly contained to my room due to having drips and a catheter still in. The problem with the that is you can't get a t-shirt or pants on so if you want to walk then usually you have to give the patients a show by exposing your behind.... something I am sure the residents of ward 7 were glad I didn't do.
Really that Tuesday I spent just anxious, anxious that nothing would pass like last time. Anxious that again I would go through that excruciating pain which would result in another stoma. But Tuesday night I finally had my first bowel movement, I'm pretty sure I hadn't been that excited about this since I was a child.
The remainder of the stay in hospital was exceptionally uneventful. Drips came out, catheter came out, wound got cleaned and I just tried to start walking. Oh and the big thing which was I was constantly dashing to the bathroom, so apparently it takes quite a while for your large bowel to get off holiday mode and into work mode.
On Thursday, day 4 after the operation I was discharged from hospital to recover at home. For those following that is a new personal best in terms of hospital stints.
This last week has now been recovering at home, which has been really tough. The first few days I think I went to the bathroom 20+ times and there were points that I wondered if I had made the biggest mistake of my life with getting the reversal done. But after Sunday and trying Imodium things have suddenly improved greatly, suddenly now I can see that things will get better and my body will adjust.
