Hi Ashbre,
Welcome to the club...
Yes, it is a whole new learning curve to have a k pouch and you will learn (very quickly) to recognise the new sensations...I have had mine for 34 yrs and it has been a very exciting trip.
My pouch allowed me to travel (something that I feared that I would never be able to do) around the world, visit and live in places that I would have been impossible when I was sick...now I seem to be going non-stop...
It is a bit intimidating in the begining, this whole new plumbing but it is eaisier to learn than a smartphone!
You will need to have a small 'kit' with you at all times: a tube to empty your pouch, a small packet of lube (one tiny one lasts me weeks...I just open up a corner and use a drop at a time), I carry both a 60cc syringe to irrigate my pouch when needed and a tiny little water bottle with a squirt top to rince it out while in the stall. The whole kit fits into a pencil case plus the water bottle in my purse.
I choose to stay on liquids in the morning because it allows me to clear out my pouch completely...then I eat once it is clear (personal choice and as far as I know, I am the only one who does this)...the rest of the day I am a consultant and professor who runs around the city on public transportation all day long, school to company to home...and I never know when or where I will be...my pouch tells me when it needs emptying and I listen. If I eat a protien meal with some veggies then I am sure that it will only take a minute or 2...if I eat a carb meal (pasta for instance) I know that it will take a couple minutes more because my output will be thicker...you will learn what works for you, how your pouch functions and very quickly you will control you pouch and not the other way around.
I wish you an uneventful journey fill with happy surprises, good health and freedom from pain and suffering.
Keep us posted on what is going on and how you are doing....
Sharon