Hi. I am 11 years out from my take-down and I'm 40. Things were rough for the first couple years after, but I'm doing well now, pouch-wise. I don't actually take any meds at all for gastro stuff (I take Flagyl daily -- not sure why I didn't say that before?? I'm weird.) so it's a blessing considering how bad my colitis was.
However, it seems like now I may need surgery to remove some ovarian cysts. My gynecologist is not familiar with J pouches. He seems a bit over-confident that it will be fine, and has told me he'll have a GI doctor on hand during the procedure in case he is needed. This medical center is a major one in our state, but it is not a teaching/research hospital like Hopkins, Mayo, etc. I have found in my experience that the non-research medical centers are hit or miss. I've had many misses, and I do not want to screw up the success I've had with the pouch.
I am wondering if anyone has had ovarian surgery with a J pouch and if I should probably be finding a surgeon that is familiar with both. it seems like a hard thing to find because even though J pouches are not rare, they aren't common either. I have an appointment with my GI doctor who IS at a major research hospital in my area (Penn Medicine in Philly). I did my surgery in Pittsburgh at UPMC Presbyterian but I moved in 2013 so I was not able to see my original surgeon anymore for follow ups (it would be a 7-8 hour drive from where I am in Delaware.)
So seeing my original surgeon isn't really possible. My Penn Medicine doctor IS familiar with J pouches so I trust her. But this local gynecologist I don't. Am I overreacting? Anybody know of a good lady-parts surgeon in this region that knows about j pouches? (Maryland, Pennsylvania, Delaware)? If not, is this necessary?
That was a long way of asking -- does your GYN surgeon need to be familiar with J pouches to not screw it up as a casualty of what would otherwise be a pretty routine procedure on the ovaries?