Hey Paul—
I am in the Barbie Butt club. LOL In general, your healing will be different because you are only a few months out from the initial surgery and I am guessing you have also had some chemo treatments as well, right? I had my permanent colostomy surgery about seven weeks after completing radiation, but before doing any of my chemo so keep that in mind when “comparing”. I had the surgery on a Thursday and was released the following Tuesday morning—not sure how long you would be in since you have already had previous surgery. I had two drains in my abdomen, one was removed before I left hospital, but the other remained for about two more weeks I believe. It was annoying dealing with it after coming home and having that hang off of you, but really it was an annoyance vs a physical pain. It was extremely excruciating “sitting” in car on the drive back home and for the subsequent follow up appointments with the surgeon the following few weeks. I was not able to drive for approximately six weeks after the surgery—per my doctor’s instructions as I had to be able to be comfortable enough sitting and focused on the road in the event I needed to make a sudden stop, etc., and any driving had to be within the 20 minutes of sitting time initially. I didn’t use any additional seating pad, I just “sat” more at an angle while on my couch—I guess more of a slump and on my side. They said I could only sit directly on my butt for small increments (10-20 minutes max) at a time for the first two months and so that is what I did. While it was uncomfortable at times, I honestly don’t recall it being anything other than what you would expect given the nature of the surgery. Not sure of your work status, but I would strongly recommend taking the full eight weeks (they generally say a 6-8 week recovery for this surgery) so that you give your body it’s best chance of recovering with less long-term issues by trying to do too much too early.
I am four years out and can’t say I have any issues from the surgery. It takes time to adjust to the permanent nature of it, but there are days where you so easily forget which is a nice feeling when it happens.
I hope this was helpful and good luck! And I agree with texazgal—the UOAA forum is a great resource as well for people with ostomies.