I'm sorry, but I haven't been here for a while, just wanted to give you an update on my situation. On October 7, I had my ileostomy finally removed (was having far to many problems with it), and got Dr Cohen to attempt K pouch #2. The surgery went well, he found a few more serosal tears (would help explain all the pain I was feeling), repaired them, and successfully made a new K pouch. BUT, a few days post op I had stool leaking out of the sides of my stoma, where it attaches to the skin. Had a few tests run, was a very large, and aggressive abscess. Ended up wearing an Ileo bag to collect the leakage with a catheter in it, in my Stoma, leaving the new K pouch on constant drain. Also had a perc drain put in to drain the abscess. I ended up spending three weeks in the hospital, and I also developed a small hole on my upper incision, which lead to a 2"x2" hole filled with puss.
Needless to say, it's been a difficult recovery, but I've been given the all clear (finally) to remove the bag, and start intubating my new K pouch...but....the day I was about to do just that, I began peeing blood, and lots of it. Suspecting a fistula (have had several over the years), I went to emerg, testing ruled out anything GI related...turns out it was a kidney stone ripping apart my kidneys and ureter, and then the pain begin. I swear all of my GI surgeries combined wasn't as painful! They put me on very heavy doses of morphine, and gallons of fluid to flush it out. It took me four days to finally get rid of it, just in time to develop the worst flu I've ever had, courtesy of a very inconsiderate patient in the ER waiting room who was coughing her head off, but refused to keep a mask on.
Today is the first day in months I'm actually feeling half decent, and will start intubating the K pouch tomorrow (the doctors recommended I hold back on intubation until the stones have passed, to avoid irritating an already inflammed area). So, that's where I'm at for now...stay tuned, given my history, every day is a surprise, but not always in a good way!
Cheers!
Eric
