Andrew, so sorry to ready about your difficulties. You are far too young. My son is 24 years old, you may wish to speak with him. Let me and I will arrange it. He was diagnosed at the age of 6 with UC. Last June he had his lg intestine completely removed. Spent the summer on a temporary Illiostomy. We had a lot of problems with the appliances and the bag leaking, not getting the wafer on correctly, and lots of pain. In September, he had his take down. All seemed to go well. He was going to the bathroom about 8-10 times a day. He was having a lot of accidents at night. Seems like he is up all night and sleeps most of the day. And still,having lots of internal Pain. In December, he had an abdominal CT scan which showed a fairly good size abscess. in January, they found the fistula. Tough news to handle. He has a drain in his back where the abscess was, it has since cleared up. He has been on TPN since mid-January. On Thursday, sadly, Jeff is now going on complete bowel rest. They giving him back his ostomy for 6-8 months with the hopes that the micro tear heals on its own. Through this entire journey, he has lost 100 lbs. that said, he needed to lose it so it was sort of a bonus, but not a way I would recommend anyone to lose weight. Having the ostomy, once the surgical pain was gone, he was finally pain free for the first time in his life. But dealing with the bag is extremely difficult especially at your age. you should be beginning your life, not dealing with these things. All of these surgeries are extremely painful and difficult. Think long and hard and do your research before you make any decisions. Jeff didn't have any options because they thought he had cancer. I'm not sure what he would have decided had that not been the case. Stay strong!