Hello

 

I had a colostomy 4 years ago because of a ruptured diverticular abscess.

 

The surgeon told me that a reversal could be carried out after a minimum of three to four months.  He also told me that it would depend on the amount of damage (burning) done to the insides of my abdomen because of the leakage of pus and bowel contents into the peritoneum.  After surgery he told me that my insides were very red and inflamed and he would only be prepared to reverse the colostomy after six months when the inflammation had calmed.  Chatting to one of the nurses I was told that, although I was told 6 months, it was very rare for that particular surgeon to carry out a reversal in less that 10 to 12 months.  He assesses you after 6 to check the length of the remaining rectal stump (too short and no reversal) and also carries out a pressure test to make sure that rectal muscles have not deteriorated.  Not pleasant but only takes a couple of minutes.

 

I had the reversal after 11 months.  The first 2 weeks after reversal surgery were very unpleasant. I felt generally unwell and always had to stay very close to a toilet.  After that 2 week period things just got better and better.

 

I did ask my General Practitioner to refer me to a nutritionist who gave me some excellent advice on what foods I should eat more or less of (nothing was to be excluded from my diet).  In particular, I should restrict my (admittedly voracious) consumption of small summer/autumn fruits - cherries, strawberries, currants etc.  With small fruit the proportion of skin (very high fibre content) to flesh is much greater than with larger fruit - apples and pears.  I was getting a fibre overload that could sometimes be a nuisance.  Three years on everything is still fine.

 

I do still take a fibre supplement (on doctor's orders) to maintain bowel volume and regularity.  It is also handy as it helps to slow things down when I get an attack of the "runs", probably from eating too much fruit!

Good luck.

 

Peter

---

From: bbcbkb3 <bbcbkb3@...>
To: colostomy@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Wednesday, 19 August, 2009 1:15:35 PM
Subject: [colostomy] Colostomy Reversal