Jim's Reversal Story

Jim's story of a colostomy reversal after diverticulitus

---

Hey all. I've been lurking here off and on over the past several months, looking for support, hints, ideas, etc since getting my colostomy. I just underwent my reversal eleven days ago and wanted to post about my experience in hopes that it might help others with their surgery.
It seems to have gotten pretty long winded, but I'm sure I still managed to leave a lot of things out. Feel free to ask any questions or for added info if there are any large holes I left in my story.
Hope it helps someone, and thanks to all of you that run and support this board. It was a great help to me through this time.
Jim

PART I: BACKGROUND INFO:

My name is Jim and I'm a 38 year old male from Indiana, USA.
The morning of November 16th, 2005, I woke up with HORRIBLE abdominal pains. After laying in bed for several hours, my wife insisted that I go the the local emergency room. They gave me some pain meds and did a CT Scan of my abdomin. Later the ER Doctor told me that I had diverticulitis and sent me home with pain meds and antibiotics. By the morning of 11-19-05 the pain had not appreciably lessened and I was running a low grade fever.
My wife then drove me to a near by town who's hospital has a better reputation than our hospital does. They called for my records and performed their own CT scan. As it turned out, my diverticulitis had been perforated three days earlier when I was originally examined and I had now spent that time pooping into myself. I was now full of infection and according to the ER Doc and surgeon VERY close to checking out.
Anyway, after emergency surgery I awoke with a colostomy. Due to all of the infection, on 11-28-05 drains were inserted to reduce the size of the absesses. These were removed on 11-30-05 and I was released.
On 12-04-05, I really felt bad all day and my left shoulder felt like someone had an ice pick in the joint twisting it. As the day went along I didn't improve and as afternoon became evening my wife really began to worry as I starting looking pale and grey. She took me back to the near by towns ER, the one that DIDN'T screw up, and they did another CT scan. The ER Doctor asked if I had been in an accident or fallen, because my spleen had ruptured. As it turns out, they can just explode from over use as mine had done trying to fight the massive amounts of infection I had. I guess I was pretty close to bleeding to death by the time I got there.
So, after a night of taking blood and observation in ICU, I went back in for another emergency surgery to remove what was left and clean me out again. After five more days in ICU and general population I was sent home again.
All has gone fairly well since then as I began to get used to my new colostomy and it's care and maintenance.

PART II: PRE-OP:

After several meetings with my surgeon, March 8th was finally picked as the day for my reversal procedure. Let me tell you, the two weeks between setting the date and the actual procedure seemed to take for ever.
The day prior to my surgery I was on clear liquids only. I also had to drink a gallon of something called GoLytly. This stuff was not too bad to drink, but it really played havoc on my system. According to the nurses, it draws fluids out of all of your organs, and dehydrates you.
My colostomy was low enough on my abdomin that I am able to use a short 18" stool set in front of the toilet for emptying my bag. So, as I began to drink this evil liquid I set up shop in the bathroom. A couple of magazines, 1 1/2 packs of smokes, 2 bottles of water, and a clock I could see so I could drink a glass of the stuff every 10 minutes. Once I felt the rumblings of things beginning to flow, I just opened the end of my bag, stuck it into the bowl, and let the good times roll.
Four hours later, when things began to quiet down some, it was time to start on the antibiotics. Two pills of two different types at 3:00, 7:00, and 11:00 PM. Combining the dehydration, no real food to speak of, and the antibiotics, I ended up getting sick three times before morning. I also continued to have to make bathroom trips to empty my bag up until we left for the hospital the next morning. By the time we made it to the hospital, I really felt wrung out and ready to get on with the procedure.
The nurses immediately started an IV of fluids and drew some blood for some reason. I'm pretty sure just so the lab could send me a bill also and not feel left out of the glorious event. Finally, I was rolled into the operating room.
A nurse popped her head in and stated that the surgeon needed the sturrips on the end of the table, I mentioned that my vagina was just fine, but they insisted. Appearantly they were going up that way as well as through the abdomin. Oh joy!!! Luckily, this is about all I remember, and I was out cold before having my legs hiked up and all my glory on display.

PART III: POST-OP IN THE HOSPITAL:

The first thing that I remember after awakening was reaching to my abdomin and not feeling my bag. I saw my wife and asked if it had worked and what the Doctor had said. She told me that the reversal was a success, and that about all the surgeon had said was that he was surprised by how well I had healed. It was a tough reversaol since he had originally had to remove so much of my intestine, but that loosing my spleen had actually helped as he was able to stretch it a little more without worrying about rupturing the spleen. Hey, I'll do anything to make his job easier for him. He had also found a small absess remaining from my original ordeal, but it was all enclosed and self contained and he simply had to scoop it out. I picture a melon baller for some reason whenever I tell people this.
So, I was hooked to a morphine pump, the type that only gives you so much every so often, so I hit my little button and went back to sleep.
When I woke back up, I asked the wife the same things, hit the button, and went back to sleep.
When I woke back up, I asked the wife the same things, hit the button, and went back to sleep.
When I woke back up, I asked the wife the same things, hit the button, and went back to sleep.
When I woke back up, I asked the wife the same things, hit the button, and went back to sleep.
You get the idea...................
The day following surgery I was still on ice chips only, NG tube was still in place, and so was my cathetor. To add to my pleasure, I developed the hic-ups. Oh what a treat those are. Every time I'd hic-up, my NG tube would run in and out of my nose a little. Obviously, this became very soar as well as my throat. The nurses gave me some throat spray, and the ice chips helped some, but I just couldn't seem to get rid of the those darn hic-ups. But, I still had my old friend the morphine pump, so I hit that button every chance it gave me. I used a lot more of it than I had during my previous surgeries, as I figured why be in pain if I didn't have to. I had gotten rid of my colostomy and I was ready to get out into the world and back to life as it was before this all started.
I think I'll get out of bed and go walk the halls for a while. Heck, I'm feeling great. So, a nurse comes to help me up. Needless to say, I almost passed out just setting up on the edge of the bed. I managed to make it to a chair, and there I stayed until I had hit the pump enough times to relieve the belly pain. Then it was straight back to bed. However, they are starting to hear gas rumblings and that's a great thing.
Day two after surgery. Still only ice chips and throat spray. NG tube still in place as is the cathetor. Later that afternoon both tubes come out and I'm given a cup of coffee and some broth. Both taste like nothing at all, but it's good to have the tubes gone. I'm still hitting the morphine more than I ought to, and I'm about to pay for that.
That night I woke up with terrible gas pains, and felt like I had to use the pot. I buzzed for a nurse, and she helped me to the bathroom, my logest journey to this point. When we got there I asked if she could get me a riser for the toilet, as it hurt really bad to squat that far. She did, and the most horrible, nasty, evil looking slime came out of me. It was black and red and runny, and unfortunately exited before I had squatted all of the way to the riser. What a nasty mess. The nurse helped me get cleaned up and called for houskeeping to get the rest. I made it back to bed and hit the morphine again.
About an hour later I awoke feeling I needed to vomit. Buzzed the nurse, grabbed a bag, and away it went. Vomiting with 32 staples in your abdomin isn't something I recommend very highly. I guess it was the combination of a LOT of morphine, pain, nasal drainage after the NG tube was removed, and not eating. I vomitted a couple of more times, went back to the bathroom once more for removal of additional alien slime, and that was my night. Not a very good experience, but at least my bowels had moved. The doctor later said that it was just blood from the surgery that had darkened as it died.
The next day I was removed from my old friend the morphine pump. I hated to see it go, but knew it had helped make my sick so it wasn't a bad departure. I was moved up to soft cereal, and that helped my sooth my stomach some to have almost real food in there. I moved a couple more streams of the black/red/evil mess that day, but was feeling a lot better and able to walk the halls for short times.
Day four after the surgery, and it's time to go home. I was a little nervous, as I hadn't moved anything except the evil black/red mixture, but the doctor said it could be several days before I did, especially since I was still only eating a few bites of food at a time. Of course, now I was on soft food, but it was real food. Mashed potatoes, processed turkey roll, pudding, that sort of thing. So, give me my vicatin prescriptions and off I go. I was on a soft real food diet for the next several days, but other than that on my own.

PART IV: POST-OP AT HOME:

I forgot to mention one important item from before my release. The area where my stoma was had been left open on prpose during my operation. The reason being that was basically just a giant hole in my abdomin, and it needed to completely close to avoid an open area that might fill with something nasty and get infected. So, twice a day, every day a nurse had to open this area up, probe it with a peroxide swab, and pack it with gauze. This kept the opening seperated while the insode closed. We had to continue this at home for the first several days.
The first two days at home I still had very little appetite. Day one at home I moved two more small amounts of the black/red/evil, then after that I stopped moving anything.
The second day, my appetite began to return and I actually ate a decent meal. The following morning, my bowels moved for the first time in what I'd call a regular fashion. It was a little loose, but there was definite mass there.I hope you can get what I'm saying without my having to get too descriptive.
This was also the day I was to go back to see the doctor and have the staples removed. He pulled the ones from my abdominal incision, but left the five in place where the stoma had been. I go back next week to have these removed. The good news is that he said we could quit probing that area and just let it close up. This process didn't really hurt that much, unless the surgeon was doing it as he's used to patients being alseep, but I wouldn't call the process pleasant either.

PART V: TODAY:

Today is 03-19-06. It has been eleven days since my reversal, and things couldn't be going better. I'm having regular bowel movements now, my diet is healthy, and I can honestly say that I don't miss my little plastic buddy one bit. I have stopped taking the presciption pain meds, and have been doing ok with ibuprofin for the past few days. It doesn't cut the pain as well, but I feel a lot better overall. The vicatin was making me lethargic, and I need to keep moving to get the abdiminal muscles back in shape.
I have some butt-hole burning, but only during a movement and for a short time afterwards. A small price to pay in my opinion.

So, that's my story. I hope it gives those about to undergo a reversal something to think about, and an idea of what to expect. The procedure is anything but simple, and recovery is pretty painful. But if I/we keep our eye on the ultimate goal, the rehab is a only a short time of discomfort concidering the outcome.
Thanks for this site again. It really helped me a lot when I first got my colostomy to read others experiences. I hope telling my story can help others as well. I'm sure that have left out a lot of details that I orignally meant to include, but I've been typing this too long already and just too tired/lazy to go back and add anything now.
Feel free to ask any questions that you might have as I'm sure I'll be popping in here from time to time over the next few weeks.
Good luck to all and God bless,

Jim
(11 days post stoma and loving it)

Categories

CategoryOstomyInfo