Hi,
I had my reversal a little more than 2 years ago. I got my bag with an emergency bowel blockage, along with sepsis and all that good stuff.
I was supposed to wait a year and lose 20 pounds before getting reversed, but my stoma was inverted and I had problems from day one. I often had to change my bag 3 times a day and since I'm allergic to latex, my skin around the stoma was always red and weeping. They even tried to do a surgical stoma repair, but no help there either.
I lost weight because of my surgery, so they counted that weight loss and said, “Ten months is close enough to a year for me, so let's go for it!” Kind of scared me because it was sudden.
I had to have a colonoscopy and they found stool in my lower intestine, so I had to do a full prep before surgery.
I changed surgeons because I was going for laparoscopic. She made the 3 incisions, but there was too much scar tissue and too much bleeding, so I woke up with the big old smile on my belly. Yes, there was a lot of pain the first couple of weeks, but not near as much as the first time.
I had one big problem I wish I had paid attention to. I was diagnosed as an MRSA carrier from my pre-op labs. I probably infected myself changing my bandage! My stoma site would not stay closed! It took 8 months to get diagnosed. I even had a hernia surgery before I finally was tested and diagnosed. It took 3 - 3 week prescriptions of Bactrim, but I healed! The surgeon said I would always be a carrier and couldn't get a release on it, but my PPO sent for a special lab test that said no culture grew, so I am free of it now.
It didn't hurt; it just scared me, and I couldn't find any info about soft tissue MRSA infection. I bought some Manuka honey and put it right in the incision under the bandage. I don't know if it helped or not.
I still have irregular bowels. I took MiraLax at first, but it made me too loose, so now I try to keep track and use strong measures if I haven't gone. I use Constulose, and that works overnight for sure!
I'm getting checked for bladder incontinence, and I keep asking if surgeries caused it, but they say not. I'm going to have hernia repair again, and I'm going to ask for a bladder lift at the same time...it's worth a shot, isn't it?
As I said, I still am irregular, so I still have those cramping stomach aches. They seem worse lately. It's really debilitating, so I've been taking Manuka honey and aloe vera juice to fix my stomach. If it doesn't help, I plan to go on probiotics because I'm really tired of feeling bad. I'm still losing a couple of days a week down with some kind of stomach problem. Cramps or constipation or diarrhea, it's always something. I'm 65 now, so I want to get back like I was for at least a little while before I start becoming “elderly.”
I was only in the hospital for 4 days, and that was because of bleeding. The wound care was a piece of cake! I had the stoma site and an incision to heal, that's all. I didn't want to walk in the hospital, so I didn't much, but I had to get up to go to the toilet. The first bowel movement wasn't bad. Weird, but not bad. Give yourself time to heal. You'll need it. Mine was another major surgery, so it took a long time.
I almost forgot! I had an incisional hernia she had to repair, but that was laparoscopic. Easy peasy! That too was hard to get diagnosed. They dragged their feet admitting they did wrong on that too, and now I have 2 in the same places.
Good luck to you! Hope I've helped. I don't know why you'd need a sitz bath...I wouldn't want to sit in the tub if I were you. Just saying...
Charlotte
