J-Pouch 12/10/15 Complete Success!

Meet the author:
Husband was a long-time colitis sufferer. Long remissions, but horrible flares. He had his 3rd surgery for j-pouch in December 2015. His colon just would not bounce back with the last flare which started in December 2014 and he ended up having it removed in April 2015.

Some more details:
We live in Northern Michigan. Enjoy hunting, fishing, and many outdoor sports (and watching sports on TV of course).

Symptoms:
No more colon and no more symptoms. Dan’s j-pouch story is a successful one (VERY successful).

The J Pouch Story

Had 3 surgeries for j-pouch (the 1st surgery was urgent as he was so ill)… the last 2 surgeries were planned. He is doing fantastic. He takes no medications (but he could if he needed to go less during the day if there was a special event). He has had no “leaks”–even immediately after the last surgery. He was on immodium and lomotil for a few months–but nothing now.

He told his surgeon last month that, “It could not have turned out better… I do not even feel like I don’t have a colon”.

He does not have to get up during the night to go to the bathroom. He has enjoyed eating so much that he put on a bit too much weight and needs to start watching his intake and kick up his physical exercise a bit. For Dan, the surgery was a success. His surgeon was the Chief of Colorectal Surgery at Froedtert Hospital in Milwaukee, WI. It is a 4 hour drive (at least) from where we live. He was extremely ill when I brought him there to the emergency room one Saturday in April 2015. We had been doctoring in Green Bay (2 hours from where we live), but nothing was working. I am an RN and I have to say that, over the years, I have never been very impressed with Gastroenterologists. Maybe it is just the nature of their profession combined with the horrible illness that UC is/can be. The surgery was totally worth it for Dan and he takes absolutely no medications. He does take a few vitamins/supplements here and there for good measure ( I remind him to take at least a couple of times a week). I should add that he goes to the BR approximately 4-6 times a day (long day–gets up at 5 and in bed around 10) and–that is without any medications.

Medications,Supplements, Probiotics
Probiotics helped Dan to remain in remission for long periods before he had this last fervent bout and decided no more steroids for him (weren’t working). Remicade didn’t help either. I have posted on this site a while back, but wanted to update to show that if that time comes to be for any UCers out there… be sure to look for the “right” surgeon (you might want to look around to be prepared). We went to a facility that has special “colorectal” surgeons and who perform these surgeries often. We feel that this has contributed to his great outcome. I still have him take probiotics (when I remind him) because I think it could prevent pouchitis–which he has not had any problems with thus far–and it will soon be a year since that last surgery.

written by Mary

submitted in the colitis venting area

Mary B

Mary (Registered Nurse). Husband has had Ulcerative Colitis since age 30 (x 25 years). Want to share another positive story about someone who has had the surgery and feel it is a success story for their quality of life.