Thank you! I have been fighting with local surgeons about this. I had an illiostomy at 19 (1992) and had to decide on a Barbie butt or try a jpouch in 1998. 24 years later and I have so many secondary issues and health problems - including another prolapsed bladder from having to bear down to empty my pouch. I am so sleep deprived - my kids woke me at night way less then my pouch does - I haven’t had more than 3-4 hours of sleep in a row. I had tp work from home for years and I MISS the full nights of sleep and ability to get out and do life. I have. Another 20 -30 years of life to live and I can’t keep doing this.
my father (age 75) has Parkinson’s and we can barely get him to a washroom - I can’t imagine what it would be like trying to get him to the toilet 5-10 times a day - he would simply be in a home in diapers because there is no care centre that would be doing that and my mom surely couldn’t.
These aren’t things we think about when we are 22 - the freedom of no bag seemed a bit more important but I wasted my 30’s and most of my 40’s. it is time for me. I would LOVE to connect to anyone with UC who has reversed back to and ileostomy and gave up their pouch after the age of 40