Hi J9pouch, I hesitated to answer, because my experiences (2xs) with balloon dilation were not good. Both times done under sedation by GI doctors. They were only able to get my stricture to a 10. (My stricture is at the beginning of my pouch) Both times in a matter of weeks it started to get smaller again. After those failed my Colorectal Surgeon did a dilation with Hegar dilators. They look pretty archaic, but they did the trick. He had me also doing daily home dilations for several months. I am now going to every other day for two weeks then every three days etc... I'm not quite sure what you mean by returning to normal. I didn't return to normal after my balloon dilations. The stricture kept wanting to close back up. For me it meant a lot of hospital time with an NG tube down the nose. I dealt with this for a good bit of time before my surgeon got involved. Sometimes it takes more than one dilation to do keep a stricture open. Sometimes a different method, sometimes home dilation. If you have anymore questions, feel free to pm me or just ask. Hope things get better for you.
Aimee