quote:What were the potential complications with a full reversal as explained to you? Why did you have the jpouch left intact, then removed 6 months later?
Complications aside from all the regular surgical issues were possible impotence and urinary incontinence. The big problem is that the area they are working in to remove the pouch typically (but not always) has a lot scar tissue which makes avoiding nerves tricky, they simply cant see well. It is much easier to do a proctocolectomy and end ileo than a J pouch excision and end ileo. They put a temp stent in to help avoid nicking/cutting the urethra during surgery. My surgery went well, it was done laparascopically and took 4 plus hrs. You need surgeon that has lots of experience to do this. The one twist on my surgery was that I had them leave the anus intact; it is typically removed and sewn up. So far this has proven to be a good decision as I recovered very quickly from surgery.
Leaving the pouch in place was a mistake. At the time I just didn’t want a big surgery which J pouch excising is and wanted relief. The disconnected J pouch gradually began to produce excretions, lots of them that were difficult to control. They didn’t burn but were difficult to deal with. Also the J pouch has to have its own blood supply and this with me, put tension on the intestine and I had a really crappy stoma. It was difficult to deal with, as it was nearly flush to the skin. They redid the stoma when the pouch was removed and now I have no problems. You want at a minimum 3/4" off the skin to the opening of the stoma