> I was pretty nervous too.  It go to the point that I had to
take some anti stress meds.  Something to think about.



I will mention this to Russ, thank you.



> If his company will allow him to telecommute I would suggest at least 4 - 6
weeks.  I did 6 and it worked out well.



After reading about your & others experiences, I'd rather my husband take a full
6 weeks & hope he ends up feeling the same about it. --What was it like when you
returned to work, same old groove or an adjustment period back in? Did you go
on disability while off work or were you able to plan well enough ahead of time
for the time off w/o pay? If that is too personal a question, I apologize -&
you can disregard it. We are not prepared for that much time off even on
disability, but cest la vie.I actually felt ok enough to sit up and work from
home so I did not use up a lot of sick time.  Fortunately everything I do is on
a PC.  Very lucky.




> He won't need a hospital bed by the time he gets home. A comfy bed and couch
will suffice.  Keep the pets away from his abdomen.



We have both a comfy bed & couch, so that's good. And, we do have pets (1 dog &
2 cats), which I hadn't even thought of, so thanks for bringing that up. All 3
of ous like 'laps'.
Keep a pillow near by so he can place it over his stomach.  That will do the
trick.  Heck, my wife actually dropped her pocket book on my tummy the first day
out of surgery.  I was so doped up that I never felt it.



> I kept my supplies in my bedroom near our bath which was in the master
bedroom. 



I know just the place, small area right outside the master bath door in our
bedroom. I'll just have to move my 'girl stuff' (makeup, hair care, etc)
elsewhere. Medical over vanity. :)



>All he will need in the bathroom is a toilet where he can sit down and drain
his pouch (pouch sounds better) and a sink to clean up afterwards.. 



Well, we've got that, lol. It's weird for Russ & I both to think of the
ileostomy as a pouch b/c it's so much different than the pouch he's had for
13yrs & is losing to the ileostomy, but I'm sure we can. By the way, can you
still get pouchitis w/ an ileostomy, can the small intestine still get inflamed
& ulcertated inside the stoma? Russ has had severe chronic pouchitis for a
little while now & was eager to be rid of it for good (his entire j-pouch is a
mess from it -all the time). The new pouch will not be small intestine, so it
can't get pouchitis, of course, but what about the small intestine on the other
side of the stoma?  

I'm not sure about this, sorry.



>One other thing I had was incense burning at times.  There is a smell
associated with all of it.  Incense seemed to help a lot.  There are also
products to put in the pouch that will help eliminate the odor as well...  I
ordered all my supplied from Edgepark.



We have some incense burners that were my grandparents, but have never used
them... I wont' even have to go shopping for that! Is the smell different or
stronger than using the bathroom w/ a j-pouch? Russ is use to not having a
colon, just not use to the abdominal 'exit'. He will lose only the length of
his existing j-pouch (about 4 inches of intestine/ileum) plus a little where
there is a pre-cancerous growth (past his anastomosis -another inch or two), so
it will still be ileum that is used to make his ileostomy, just not the end
portion of ileum.

THANK YOU, I will look on the Edgepark site later today --I have wondered what
the supplies will cost every month & we've both what is involved w/ the ostomy
care (daily, weekly, monthly). Money is tight, but we won't scrimp on ostomy
supplies & want good quality. I've been trying to alter our monthly finances,
lower some costs, to ready ourselves for adding ostomy costs. I don't want Russ
to worry about the money part -at all. Thank you for suggesing Hollister
products, too --I will look for them.These supplied should all be covered by
your insurance.  Dig deep and make sure they are!  They are very expensive




>I'm pretty active so I tried not to let the Colostomy hold me back.  After the
reversal surgery, I played golf 6 weeks later.  I even played while I had the
colostomy!



This is Russ, too -very active. He is a weight-lifter, runner, cyclist; he's
5'8" & 205 lbs --of muscle. He likes to golf, too, but hasn't in a long while.
Our son & I are both mildy disabled & aren't able to do a lot w/ Russ so we
aren't a super active 'family' (we use to be), but Russ is very active on his
own & w/ friends. He use to do a lot more, but his pouch problems kept him from
things (much more so the last 2 yrs). He is very much hoping the ostomy will
change that.



> Ping me anytime!  Or you can call me.  603-236-6780



I don't recognize the 603 area code.. are you in a different time zone than we
are in California? We'd want to call at a decent hour. And, thank you.New
Hampshire



> When is surgery scheduled for?



first week in October, exactly one week after we get home from our son's
Make-a-Wish trip to Atlanta, Georgia (home of the world's largest aquarium).
Russ' pre-op is the day after we get back. We're cutting things close, but
juggling the health issues all 3 of us have, that's how we have to do things.
Russ wanted a full week to ready, otherwise we'd have scheduled the surgery for
immediately after we got back. His surgeon leaves for a conference in
mid-October. It seems both far off & just around the corner.

Thank you again for everything,

Meghan, Russ' wife (& Wyatt's mom)
-Jerry































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