I had a Koch Pouch that lasted for about 18 years and then I had to find a new Surgeon since mine had passed away. I had a Dr. Schiller in California do my surgery for a BCIR because just redoing the valve seemed to not be enough and now it has been about 3 years. I can say that I have had many experiences over the years and to put this into perspective I did have an illeostomy for nearly 10 years before the Koch Pouch and had nearly died before that. I was under 100 pounds and my existence seems to still surprise some people. Over the last few years the biggest challenge for me was not having any moral support since I had lost my Mother right before that surgery in California. At that point it was like suddenly I was on this planet alone and not much has changed in these last years except learning to be even more independent though I think crawling on hands and knees from a taxi to your front door is a bit ridiculous. I bet you have many in your world that are understanding and that is a great and wonderful thing to cherish. Even though I had some issues with the Koch Pouch I think I would never want to go back to having a external pouch since I am very used to living the way I do. The dietary limits and other things like scars are nothing to me and I only wish that their was more surgeons and also more support and recognition from others in the Medical field. I have done all kinds of things like traveling for months into Budapest and Skopje and other places where I went Scuba Diving and had no complications from my Koch Pouch or the BCIR that I have now. If there are any specific questions on healing or things like that I am more than happy to share what I can. I wish you all the very best.