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Reply to "Anybody here vegetarian or vegan :)"

Dang!!! Is your J-pouch doing okay???

Every time I went to a doctor thinking there's something wrong with my j-pouch they all said it was in good condition and whoever did it, did a great job.  It was Dr. Irwin Gelernt (may he rest in peace) and his assistant Dr. Stephen Gorfine, part of Manhattan's Dream Team,  at Mt Sinai back in 1996. So even though the pouch is doing "great", I was not.  Always had problems with leakage here and there, never felt "finished", thought I had hemorrhoids  (which I apparently never did) because it was often feeling sore or like there were shards of glass were there when I was walking, and would go over 8 times a day or more, if you consider going to the bathroom  3 times within 15 minutes of each other as 3 times.  I would count that as one time, but Gorfine said that's 3 times. 
Dr. Gorfine who I saw almost yearly after the surgery, told me that my problem was strictures and would dilate me in the office.  A few years ago he took an indeterminate leave of absence so I had to search for other surgeons or a GI doc in NY,  and I was not happy with them.   Eventually I went to the Cleveland Clinic to see the famous "King of Pouches", Dr. Bo Shen.  I went through 3 major diagnostic procedures and he told me that I don't have a stricture (which I still think develops here and there), but that I have Paradoxical Contractions and a Floppy Pouch.  I went for 10 straight weeks of PT for the Paradoxical  Contractions, and I might have improved just slightly.  At least I don't have leakage any more like I used to.  But I still don't feel finished most of the time, and I end up feeling sore very often, like there's a hemorrhoid there.  I'm so lucky Bo Shen moved to NY to be at Columbia.  I will eventually make an appointment with him because now I think it must have to do with a Floppy Pouch.  The pouch is still in good shape, it's just that it may not stay in place because I had a hysterectomy at the time of my colectomy and not having a uterus may not keep the pouch in its place. So it may flop around and fold on itself somehow, holding back the stool.  Something like that.  I hope that's what the problem is, as Bo Shen is known for his banding procedures which may help.  
Sorry to write so much not relating to this topic of vegetarianism, but you did ask me how my pouch was doing.   
BTW, I'm one of the few people who had radiation and chemotherapy while I had an ileostomy bag, which the surgeons made sure the intestines would be out of the way of the radiation, and had the pull through a year later.  After 3 years of of being cancer free I was considered cured.  I'm still here, 25 years later, still uptight and embarrassed about my bathroom problems, haha.  

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