Some of the things that surprised me: the importance of starting liquids and food very slowly post surgery. Also the importance of walking after surgery to get the small intestines moving.
Not sure if everyone gets this post surgery- but I had a drain coming out of one of my incisions
The other thing that surprised me was how I reacted to the illeostomy. I thought I would be traumatized but I really wasn’t. It wasn’t nearly as bad as I had feared.
Hope this helps!