Ileostomy Reversal, I Will Let You Know How It Goes

Guess I will start from the beginning. 2 1/2 years ago, I had a sudden onset of abdominal pain which got worse over 48 hours. Having no insurance coverage, I held out as long as I could before going to the ER with the abdominal pain and no B/M for over 72 hours.

8 hours after arriving in the ED, I was in surgery, and 12 hours later, I had a colostomy.

I will give a blow-by-blow in later posts, but after an unsuccessful attempt at reversal last September that resulted in an ileostomy, I was completely and totally depressed.

Last Thursday, my ileostomy was reversed. I was released from the hospital directly out of the ICU yesterday morning. I returned to the ED yesterday afternoon because I spiked a temp of 102. A "possible" pneumonia was detected on the X-ray. I refused to be readmitted for observation, was given an antibiotic to take home, and a new appointment with the surgeon Wednesday to follow up.

I seem to be healing very fast, moderate incision pain, and some lingering hernias that will be repaired later.

I intend to become a full member later today and then plan to blog about my total mind-numbing experience.

Godspeed.

Hi TotallySurprised,

And aren't we all. After one abdominal resection surgery a couple of years ago, I was sent home. I was there a week recovering when everything stopped. I was still "connected" then. I felt horrible and eventually started vomiting black awful stuff. Readmitted to the hospital, they found no blockage...they eventually found pneumonia in my right lung, and they wrote the whole 3 weeks of in-patient care off to "ilio-anal blockage secondary to pneumonia". It was pure misery. I am sure your insurance situation sucks, but don't let yourself die over it.

Good luck!

I had 2 bowel movements in the hospital and then nothing. Came home yesterday morning and nothing all day. Finally about 8 this morning all was well again. I pray for continued healing!

Hi, just reading your posts, and my prayers are with you. Things like this seem to happen often and no answers to make us feel better. I will pray for a full recovery and no more problems, Joyce.