Temporary Ileostomy

[Dick]

I am a 62 year old, 3 year, Stage 3+ rectal cancer with liver mets, survivor. Thanks to surgery, radiation and chemo along with fantastic support and encouragement from my family and friends, I completed an 8 day, 400 mile bike ride last summer.
My surgeon managed to reconnect my rectum with the minimum tissue he could use. I am left with an ileostomy that could be reversed. He said I would have minimum storage and have to frequently be in search of a bathroom for "emergencies. So far, I have found the bag to be convienent. We travel, cycle, workout and hike. I don't let the ostomy be an excuse for anything, except for hot tubbing. In short, i'm active and don't want the embarassment of being caught "unprepared" and unable to "hold it" and frantically search out a bathroom.
My question is has anyone regained some semblance of normalcy after a reconnection of lower rectal surgery? How long did it take? Was your reconnection better than the ostomy? Any dietary changes? Considering everything, I tolerate what I have but "is the grass greener? " and can I be a whole person again with no future problems? LIVESTRONG

[tamfigg]

I had an illeostomy as well. I was 27 at diagnosis. I had mine reveresed at 3 months against my doctors wishes. I have regained normalcy. I go more often than the norm, and as you said , when I have to go I have to go, so I am always prepared with knowing where the restrooms are. Now 3 years later, there may actually be a day I go less than 10 times which is a good thing.

When I had the bag I did make dietary changes, b/c I had two blockages. Those were very painful, apparently grapes don't digest well when you have a bag, I passed a whole grape through the illeostomy, that was a site to see.

Looking back now, the decision to have the bag reversed was more vain. Being young it was hard for me to look at that each day. There are days I wish I had it back, when I am having a bad day, or perhaps i don't make it to the RR in time etc.

You have a great attitude and folks that read this that have a bag will learn from you. I dont' have a bag and I could not do a bike ride like that.I don't think once a rectal patient has had their rectum removed that things ever return to what they were before, but now I dont' even remember what before was. To me going 10 or more times is normal.

Tammy Figg
www.figgtree.com

[Guest]

I had a temporary ileostomy for 7 months after I had my surgery (for a very low lying tumour). However, I did not have a straight connection, I had a j-pouch formed from the remaining colon.

Since I have been reconnected, I have had no problems at all. No accidents, very little urgency (nothing that can't wait an hour or so), perhaps 1 to 2 trips per day to the bathroom. A lot of this is due to the extra storage capacity of the j-pouch (and my surgeon advised me that they would not reconnect me if I had a weak sphincter or pelvic floor as the results would not be great).

I am very glad I was reconnected (even though the bag wasn't that much of an issue), and the only difference now is that my diet is slightly more restricted than when I had the ileostomy.

Good luck with your decision