I had colon cancer at 21, had part of my colon taken out and resected, then chemo and the shotgun radiation they used back in the early 90's. Had annual colonoscopies and starting having more and more polyps taken out. Two years ago with the help of a geneticist we decided based on me having lynch syndrome to have my colon removed. My amazing surgeon took out my colon and hooked up my small intestine to what was left of my radiation damaged rectum (about half) thanks to my surgery when I was 21. She connected the small intestine to the side of my rectum to create a bit of a reservoir. I lived with the ileostomy for 7 months and hated every minute of it. I particularly couldn't get used to the lack of control and the constant worry the bag would disconnect during work, when I was away from home, etc. The output was typical for an ileostomy so very liquid and a lot in volume. Had the reversal in May '21 and as most have said, it's been challenging, particularly at first. Watery output, going a lot, butt pain, accidents, the whole shebang. But, as time goes on, while I still go a lot (like 10x a day), the output has improved significantly, the butt pain brought on by watery stools has become rare (say 2x a month now), and I have excellent control. Never have accidents outside the house and even at night I haven't had one for months. I've gone out to eat at restaurants several times and can go to bars and drink some. Now drinking does make the output more unpredictable, but even that has gotten better over time. I take metamucil and immodum 2x a day routinely and have lomotil for those times when it's super liquid.
So I seem to be the rare occurrence of someone without a colon who's been re-connected and can lead a pretty normal life other than having to use the potty every couple of hours. I have control over when I go and when I don't go, although sometimes I need to get to a potty within say a half hour, and I don't have to mess with an ileostomy anymore, which really jacked up my skin. I would get reversed again in a heartbeat.
Best of luck to you and whatever decision you make.