Ileostomy Reversal After 50+ - Seeking Experiences

Looking to connect with people who had an ileostomy reversed after age 50.

Crickets? Really? You mean to tell me no one over the age of 50 has been reversed on here? Hmmmm.... maybe all the old fogies forgot how to type. Consider this a bump. Someone help this person out.

;O)

Bob

Actually, now that I think about it.......... why would those who were successfully reversed stick around here??? You might be looking for unobtainium........ which for those folks....... is a good thing. O)

I'm 67...ileostomy surgery six months ago today, reversal was on Wednesday, home on Saturday. So far, so good. No pain. Still getting used to doing things the "natural" way and dealing with expected loose BMs and urgency, but it's not nearly as bad as I expected it to be. Yet. I don't want to declare victory prematurely but I'm feeling pretty darn good.

68 here. Ileostomy Nov 2021, reversal done March 2022 (4 months to the day). Struggled with the bag, could never get a handle on reducing output, just hated having the appliance. Reversal went smoothly, in the hospital for 1 1/2 days; reversal surgery only took 32 minutes according to the surgeon. Haven't had pain issues since the surgical site closed up, but having to pack the wound with gauze once a day was very uncomfortable.

Have worked with my diet to get more "regular", have had some issues with the urgent feeling of needing to go to the bathroom. I searched online for any information I could find about diet going forward after a surgery like this, but until I read an article/study called "Bowel Management After Colorectal Surgery" by Fairfax Colon and Rectal Surgery. I highly recommend reading that article, it opened my eyes some. It described some things I was struggling with like clustering, and gave some simple instructions on how to normalize bowel movements. Imodium and Pepto-Bismol were very handy to have around whenever I got out of sequence/spending too much time on the pot. I have learned some lessons that have made my life almost like it was before, damn close anyway.

Don't drink too much during meals, I just take a sip or two. That slows down the digestive process, allowing things to firm up which gives my shortened system time to scavenge fluids out. I start drinking after at least an hour.
When it is time to go to the restroom, I just sit down longer. I lost my 2nd "sphincter" in the surgery, so have less storage and things are just waiting there at the "doorway". For me, that means if I get up too quickly, I may be sitting right back down with what feels like urgency. One trip, get more done...
I wore the diapers after the reversal surgery, but that was only when I slept. I was lucky enough that I could control myself enough when awake, but relaxed sleeping worried me. Only had one small accident when sleeping, but haven't worn those to bed for months now. Only had one party foul when awake; tooted but got a small surprise. Other than that, not an issue. I was fortunate to have good control down there.
I have stayed away from weight-lifting or doing anything that may cause internal issues where I've been re-connected. Have been riding my bicycle a lot to stay in shape, and just re-joined the gym last week. Going to be very careful about abdominal exercises or strains, been very lucky after my surgery so why look a gift horse in the mouth? Used to love to row, but gonna wait for some time to ensure I do no damage.

Long note, sorry. Just wanted to get it out there that the reversal is possible, and with a little common sense managed. My surgeon told me that nothing will be the same after this, and he was right, but that doesn't mean the changes have to be all bad.

Hi, I'm 54 and had my ostomy reversed for 17 months now. I had colon/rectal cancer in my early 20s with radiation that damaged my rectal tissue and left me with about half the standard rectum size. Cancer flared up again two years ago and because of my genes they removed my colon and hooked up my small intestine to my rectum. My excellent surgeon wasn't sure the reversal would hold or not leak so I had the ostomy for 7 months to give it ample time to heal.

After the 7 months of dealing with the bag, which I did not like at all mostly because of the complete lack of control, all the tests were positive so the reversal was done.

Now I'm not typical since I have no colon left but I will say that Metamucil and Imodium and Lomotil are friends. The consistency of the output as well as my ability to hold it gets better each month. I can honestly say that I'm "more normal" now than 3 months ago and so on. I still don't eat if there's not ready access to a bathroom, think tailgating, but I will go to restaurants and have business lunches/dinners etc. Booze makes the output unpredictable so I try to watch that although I could do better. And someone suggested not drinking while eating and I second this.

Good luck!

Stories of Living Life to the Fullest from Ostomy Advocates I Hollister

Update to earlier 6-month posting after reversal:

Things have gone well regarding my reversal surgery healing and normalizing my life. I still have a few times where it's good to be aware of where a bathroom is, not because I need to run to it immediately, but just good to know. There have been a couple of times that my system has sped up for whatever reason and I only take a shot of Pepto-Bismol to quiet it down; I've maybe had to do that less than 10 times in the year since reversed (March 2022).

I eat what I want to, but do try to eat healthy even though I love me some cookies. I'll be 69 in June, so trying to do my best to hedge things on the good side by diet and exercise, it's a bitch getting old sometimes.

All in all I've been lucky with this. Could've been a hell of a lot worse and hopefully never will be. I still read the posts here while remembering my ileostomy and the struggles with bag/output. This forum is a great place to realize you're not the only one in the world dealing with stuff like this, some of the things I read here are damn inspiring!

Have a good day,

John