Progress Toward the Next Surgery

Here’s the update… I had a fistulotomy back on Sept. 2nd to prepare for the big ileo-anal anastomosis with J-pouch operation in October. The cut was a bit over an inch long and had a pretty heavy drainage for a week-and-a-half. I’m now about two-and-a-half weeks post-op, and drainage is pretty minimal now. The pain was well controlled with Vicodin and Valium, and I pretty much was off those by ten days post-op.

Now I get to look forward to the main event, scheduled for Oct. 8th. My surgeon thought my post-op progress from the fistulotomy put me on track for the October surgery, though the time is a bit on the short side between the two.

The expected post-op sequence following the October surgery is seven days in the hospital, where I will get IV fluids but otherwise nothing else going into the gut. Then I’ll have the usual (!?) three weeks of no lifting, stooping, or bending at home. There will be two to three months of a very restricted diet. This wil also be a period of adjustment to the J-pouch, which will start with a lot of bowel movements per day, reducing to something like four to six bowel movements per day eventually.