Hi! I'm one week post colostomy takedown and thought I'd post about my experience so far, since it's been really positive. I had my colostomy 8.5 months ago due to a perforated colon from diverticulitis (my eighth or ninth attack, which is another story - I wish people knew that if you've had three or four attacks you should consider preventive surgery, but no doctor ever mentioned that to me). I had an abscess from the perforation but had no idea that I could end up with a colostomy, so I woke up from the surgery without a sigmoid colon, wondering what on earth that bag was for. Obviously, I learned pretty quickly!
I adjusted pretty easily to the bag, with a lot of thanks to this website. I learned a lot from everyone, and I'm so grateful. The surgeon who created my ostomy told me I could have it reversed in three months or so, but he couldn't do it because he was out of network. I was nervous too because I'd read that it's harder to reverse a Hartmann's procedure, which is what I had. I was referred to a surgeon in my health insurance network, and he didn't want to do the surgery until at least eight months had passed, since he wanted to be sure everything was completely healed. I was so disappointed, but when he said to me that he wanted to give me the best chance for success and a full recovery, I couldn't argue.
Fast forward to about a month ago, when it was finally time to schedule surgery. My doc said that he expected everything to go well, probably three days in the hospital, and I shouldn't schedule any important meetings for 10 days. All of that was hard to believe given my experience with the colostomy itself, but he kept reminding me that this surgery is a million times easier than the first, particularly because there's no infection to deal with.
The week leading up to the surgery, I made the mistake of going down the Reddit rabbit hole. I also read a lot on this site. I started to feel nervous about whether I was making the right decision to have it reversed - so many tough stories from people. My doc had said 85% chance all goes well; 10% chance of a temporary ileostomy for six weeks if my large intestine needed more healing time, and 5% chance he opens me up and closes me back up and I try again in a year. Those are great odds, but still, reading other people's experiences made me so worried.
Two days before the surgery, I changed my wafer, wondering if it would be the last time. The day before the surgery, I had to cleanse my system with Gavilax in the morning and only clear liquids in the afternoon (similar to the colonoscopies I've had, except I had always drunk the yucky stuff in the evening…it was not fun this time at all - got the chills throughout). I didn't sleep much the night before out of nerves, still wondering if I was making the right decision. I didn't mind the bag, and I could easily see myself with it forever.
We got to the hospital at 5:30 a.m. for my 7:30 a.m. surgery. Did all of the pre-op stuff, saw my doc briefly, told him how nervous I was (it didn't help when he made me sign a document that talks about everything that could go wrong), and then I was on my way. I vaguely remember being in post-op eating ice chips, but not able to look down to see what had happened. By noon, I was in my hospital room, groggy but awake enough to talk with my people, who told me it was a success. And that my appendix was now gone because it had attached to my rectum over the past months and it was inflamed, so my doc figured it was best to take it out.
This next part is what I really came to talk about: what it's been like the past week. I had read about the urgency and frequency, how bad the diarrhea is, and how it feels like your bowels are moving through glass. None of that has happened to me. My surgery was Wednesday morning; on Thursday I started passing gas, and a lot of it. That was really the only pain; my belly looks like Frankenstein with all the staples (my stoma hole is now three open smaller holes with staples in between because my doc said the risk of infection for stitching it all up would be high since poop went out of it), but none of that really hurt. In fact, the last bit of Tylenol I took was Thursday evening. I was able to eat solid food on Friday morning, and by Saturday morning my care team was pleased with how things were going, so I got released from the hospital. I was there for a total of three nights, just like my doctor said. I hadn't had a bowel movement yet, but I was passing some small clots of blood (ick), and also passing gas like there was no tomorrow. I definitely had anxiety about my first BM, expecting a ton of diarrhea, but….nothing. Saturday came and went. Sunday came and went. On Monday I called my doctor to ask what to do. I didn't feel constipated (never in my life had I ever been constipated), but my doctor's office suggested I try some Colace, which I did. On Tuesday morning, TA DA, my first BM. It was fully formed and maybe two or three inches long. No more blood. Throughout the day I did go a fair amount - I felt like I could hold it okay but also wasn't always sure what was a BM and what was just gas, so to be on the safe side, I'd head to the toilet. Mostly I passed small noodle-like stools that were an inch or two long (my boyfriend started to call them poodles). No real pain when going, maybe just a little bit of soreness, and I'm assuming that's from the site where my colon and rectum are rejoined.
Now, one week out, I've had three regular-looking BMs today (maybe a little skinnier than they used to be?), and I'm so, so happy. I am still taking the Colace, and I guess I had been constipated, which no one really ever talked much about in all my reading about life right after a reversal. I'm trying to drink as much liquid as I can, and we'll see how long my doc says to keep taking the stool softener.
So - I know everyone is different, and also I know that I'm lucky given how much of my rectum and large intestine were left. But if you're thinking about reversal surgery and understandably worried about it, there are lots of success stories. I don't think I needlessly worried, but I want to add my positive experience with the hope that maybe it can lessen anxieties for others about to get their colostomy takedown.
