I had my original surgery 11/29/21 and received an ileostomy out of the deal. Also lost a good portion of my rectum; but the surgeon said at the start/ during recovery that a reversal was in my future if I wanted it. Lived with the bag and quite frankly was looking forward to the day I could be reversed. Like some of you have read the less than positive results others have had, so prior to the takedown surgery was sorta nervous. My doctor even advised that he'd had one person who had so many post surgery issues that he asked for/ received a permanent ileostomy. Going in I knew the pros/cons and went for it.
Had the reversal done 4/29 of this year, and came out of the deal pretty happy about the outcome. Spent 2 days in the hospital, surgeon left the wound open; we had to pack it twice a day with gauze to let it heal from the inside out. He had put a stitch in one side to keep everything close, that stitch was pulling skin and hurt like the dickens when it was touched the wrong way. Taking the stitch out was not fun either, when he was done the hole was bigger. Same thing applied though, packing the wound with progressively smaller media/ sterile solution (evidently things heal quicker internally slightly moist?). Today it is almost closed completely and I don't not notice it at all.
My diet has been almost normal, although I do get lit up (baboon ass) on occasion by things I eat that cause some frequency issues. I am able to control my rear end so that there aren't any accidents, as long as I use common sense. Hell, it's only been a month tomorrow since the last surgery so it's expected things will take some time to settle down. I do wear Depends to bed at night, not necessarily fond of that, but while me and my body sort things out it makes sense to have that peace of mind sleeping. For me, having some Imodium around is handy, don't use it much but it's nice to have for those eating mistake days. I've eaten some foods that caused gas; at least for me that's an issue because it seems to make me concentrate more to control those "pearly gates".
For those of you considering the reversal, research what's going to happen so that there are no bad surprises. The good things that go along with the reversal make everything worth it for me personally. My surgeon was frank and spoke straight about what I could/ may expect afterwards. Getting your doctor to talk straight turkey with you gives you the best information to make your decision.