Hi Guys,
It has been a while since I've posted.
I was having a lot of complications in recent years, my liver seemed to be in pain, enlarged and generally unhappy. I was having frequent (after meals or when fasting) severe upper abdominal pain where my gallbladder used to be, sometimes sharp as if a staple came loose and was scratching me from the inside, a punch-in-the-gut pain...all in the same zone.
I was also getting intermittent partial blockages on my left where my colostomy site was and where they had already fixed a loop of bowel stuck with adhesions.
Plus I was no longer intubating straight in...I was searching, a little too often, for the trajectory.
To crown it all, if I had to pee, I had to empty my pouch, partially, first, then pee a bit, then empty a bit...etc. It was very frustrating (it also meant that I had to intubate every single time that I had to pee.)
I was being followed by a hepatologist who found a cyst near my liver and stones in the 'colléoduc' or stump of the gallbladder that was obviously part of the problem.
After consulting with a 'specialist' I went to see my favorite surgeon (funny how we can say that and you guys understand!) who has fixed various things laparoscopically at least 4xs and has once assisted Dr. Cohen in completely rebuilding my pouch and valve.
I didn't need to explain much to him, he is pretty good at this, in spite of the fact that he is in his late 70's. (Fear that he is going to retire soon is real!)
So, on Tuesday he took me in and operated on 4 different sites.
He removed the cyst (impressive little golf ball), cleared and clipped-off the colléoduct, found adhesions gluing my small bowel to my liver...apparently, that was quite a job to separate). He released the loop of bowel on the left that historically gives me blockages, then he had to shift my position to seated (he asked me in what position I intubate beforehand) and go in from another angle. He picked up my pouch that was sitting on my bladder (no adhesions, thank goodness) and tacked it to the wall.
All in all 2.5hrs 'knife-to-skin' as my anesthesiologist says. I had a hard time coming out of the anesthesia but honestly, I am doing great. Home in 2 days.
I can make myself soup, put on my own socks and I unhooked from the leg-bag within 24hrs.
I love laparoscopic surgery! What a difference from open surgery.
The good news is that he found nothing on my liver itself. (the fear was that a crispy-critter was lurking around there). He believes that the problems were all from the back-up in the colléoduct and the adhesions. We shall see but for now. No complaints.
My surgeon is not a k pouch surgeon, had never even seen one before assisting Dr. Cohen 10+yrs ago, and is old school. He talks. He takes his time and listens. He trusts me and my instincts regarding my pouch. When I said that it was 'off' and that I wanted him to check it out, he didn't poo-poo me...he did it, found the problem, and fixed it.
So, now comes the hard part. Staying home and healing.
Sharon