Hi there, well here we go again!! I was in St. Vincent's Hospital in the past two weeks for my expected surgery. The proposed surgery was to remove what's left of my rectum, sphincter, and the de-functioned J-Pouch which is still in there.
I got a call at 11 AM on Thursday to be at the hospital by 7 AM the next morning. There had been a cancellation, and they had my pre-op workup already done, so that was OK. I got there early, before the staff, and waited. Pretty soon they had me prepped and sedated for my 7:30 surgery.
I'm on the other side of Ireland, which is 3 1/2 hours by train and another hour-long bus ride to the hospital, so I went the night before and stayed with my brother near Dublin (1 1/2 hours to the hospital from there!! I was up at 4:30 getting showered and looking respectable for the man with the scalpel.
I was all ready to wake up and have my butt sewn shut and expecting a tube coming from there. I felt no tube, and I was not in the ICU, so I figured that something went wrong!!?? Not until about three hours later (when I really woke up) did I confirm that no work had been done on the intended surgery.
The problem was scar tissue. Apparently, the scar tissue is covering/smothering my organs, including bladder and small intestine. They said that they could not even identify the bladder and even less so for the small intestine. They thought it was too dangerous to continue, and after poking around in there, they just closed me back up again. I will go back in four weeks to see my principal surgeon and see if they have come up with any solutions. Right now, one proposal is to install a stent in my urethra to prevent a pee blockage when my pouch gets inflamed....this causes pouchitis, which in turn causes prostatitis, which squeezes on my urethra and stops my pee. This happened recently, and it took ten days in the hospital to get the infection down.
Right now I'm resigned to not continuing with this planned surgery. The risks of having both a urostomy and short bowel as well as an ileostomy do not appeal to me right now.
Has anyone else experienced this problem, and did you find a solution???
Thank you all XOXO Eamon.
Wow! What a way to go for an unsuccessful procedure! So sorry you had to go through all of that! Hopefully, they will come up with a solution to make your system work! Prayers are with you! Puppyluv
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In both of my cases, I had no choice. It was surgery or be put 6 feet under! I thank God that He has been with me all these times. Without Him, I never would have known what to do and might not have gone to the hospital when I did. I don't know if you have had your surgery or not yet but I hope you will hang out on this website when you are done. I have learned a great deal through the people here and it is so great having others who have had the same thing done and been through what you are about to or have gone through. The only thing I have turned down is a reversal of the ileostomy. When the doctors did the emergency rebuilding of my original ileostomy this last February, I told them I did not want to go through this again. My doctor told me at that time that I was no longer a candidate for the reversal. In a way, I was very relieved. The last three years of my life have been a nightmare for me. I do not want to go through any of it again. If you wish to be rehooked up and they say you are a good choice for that, research it carefully. Every surgery I have ever had except for Old and New Maxine and the emergency surgery on my broken foot, I have spent weeks researching. I recently had my C5 C6 disk in my neck replaced with an artificial one. I went to my pre-op with 2 pages of questions for the doctor. I knew everything that they were going to do and could talk intelligently with them. I always try to research my adversaries! Don't cancel your surgery. It is nice not to have to suffer any longer with horrible pain. We all had to change a few things around when we had our surgeries but in the long run, most of us are glad we did it. I know I am. Good luck to you!
Best wishes
Bill
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Eamon, Well, SH!!!!!! Things just seem to snowball sometimes in our lives. I know you were looking forward to this surgery to put an end to the ongoing issues, and I am really sorry to hear the results you just received. Scar tissue scares the hell out of me. I've had three organs removed, and I often wonder what's going on inside now. My surgeon (of 4 years ago—I haven't seen anyone since then) insisted my hernia was not a hernia. It definitely was (CT scan proven) not just a simple hernia, but a very large ventral hernia (one of three!) with three loops of small intestine looped into my stomach!! I live with it because I still can't muster the faith in anyone touching me surgically again, but also because I have read about the issues with scar tissue, and considering the removal of three organs, I figure I've got enough of that already. I know you had high hopes of finally ending the bouts of pouchitis and the misery that was constantly plaguing you and interfering with your "get on with life" attitude. Try to hang onto that attitude, Eamon, because without it I can tell you that life is quiet and frequently lonely. Maybe there will be progress in treating scar tissue, or maybe the doctors will find an alternate solution for your particular issue. And you keep researching yourself, all that you can. I'll keep good, positive thoughts for you, and hope you receive good news on your next doctor's visit. Please stay in touch.
Peace
Nancy