How bad is it?

What am I looking at when they do the reversal of my ostomy? And do they reopen using the same scar?

Hi Lucky #1,

This is Charlotte, charK60. No, they will not use your old scar. If they do it laparoscopically, they will make 3 small incisions. If not, I believe it will be a different site.

I had my reversal in May, and she first tried the labor surgery, so I have scars from there. That didn't work because there was too much scar tissue, and she had to go in hands-on, so I ended up with a Tic Tac Toe board across my abdomen. Not a pretty sight.

Then in October, I had hernia surgery, and that was a later surgery. Much easier to take care of. The three incisions were glued closed, and I had to let them fall off by themselves. There were no bandages or leakage of any kind.

Besides the incision, you will probably stay in the hospital 4 or more days until you have your first bowel movement and can eat solid foods as well as walk unassisted.

Some say the reversal is worse than the original. I don't know about worse, but the recuperation time is certainly as bad as the first time around.

I've read posts that they set up a bed in the bathroom they had to go so often, but that wasn't my experience. I took laxatives regularly to keep my bowel loose enough to not hurt.

I am just now cutting back on the laxatives because I get so loose I have accidents that I'm not even aware of. That's even though I still take pain meds because of the hernia, and currently, my stoma site is bleeding lightly but hurts in passing.

There's a lot of other responses under the topic "Reversal."

Good luck!