For fellow ostomates, wouldn't it be great to not have to wear that
pouch ever again? That's what I thought and still kind of do with
the BCIR now. I went over 18 years with my ileo. My rectum was
removed, and the sphincter muscle too. And when I got the BCIR done,
I had to learn to "bare down" all over again. The only problem is
that it's a lot more baring down than what my body has ever had to
do, depending on what I eat. Fiber is supposed to be good for us,
but depending on the form of fiber, the harder it is. I can't even
eat the cereals I love without having to spend about 15-20 in the
bathroom. I usually spend a lot of time "flushing" the intabation
tube in order to thin things down enough to get them to pass. I was
told to drink lots of grape juice to help with that, but you kind of
get tired of that too. And it also has you making more trips. With
the ileo pouch I could just run in, dump and rinse it and be done.
But not with the BCIR. I don't want to ruin any hopes. I love not
having the pouch leak, having my skin a mess from any acids I would
eat.
There are certain conditions also that make it hard to intubate.
1. say you're traveling and have a ways to go before a stop, the
fuller the internal pouch gets, the tighter the opening, and the
harder it is to get the tube inserted.
2. if the tube or lube is COLD it tightens the opening also.
3. gas, which we ostomates usually have a lot of, will make the
inner pouch move around alot too, making it hard to insert the tube.

Lets talk about gas, yeah, it's noisy with an external pouch, but it
is much worse with the BCIR because it has no where to go until you
can intubate. It just rolls around in there and sounds like your
tummy has a bear in it or something.

Diarrhea=BAD. The internal gets full quite quickly and often, so
where do you think you will be all day? It takes a couple of min. to
get things ready to intubate.
You have to carry an extra bag with you at all times. The contents
of which='s -a big type of cup
-the flushing syringe
-a tube of lubricating jelly
-the tube itself
-sanitary napkin(s)
-knee and elbow size bandages
-gauze squares or rolled up paper towels
Sounds glamorous doesn't it.
Most pills you will have to take will NOT digest, at least not for
me they don't. Has anyone noticed this with their ileostomy? Mine
would always come out barely degraded around the outside edges but
mostly fully intact.
Those will pass with a little diffaculty with the ileo. But with
the BCIR they will cause you major problems. They will not pass
through the intubation tube you will use for the BCIR. They will
block your intubation draining process. And they will lie in the
ilium pouch until they disolve enough to finally pass. I have often
wondered how many pills I have lying in there. Scarey thought.

I DO get to be more active. I DO get to wear nice jeans or any kind
of bottoms without having to worry about what it looks like when my
external pouch is full. I NEVER have to worry about bad leaks or
total floods.
I DON'T get to eat salad "greens" or cabbage, or celery.
I can no longer eat rice.
I could go on and on. Later.

But I won't lie, it does beat the challenges of an ileostomy bag.
I just wanted to share some of the challenges here. Any questions I
can answer are welcome. And if I don't know the answer, I will email
my BCIR care nurse in St. Louis and ask.
I was out of internet for over a week and missed a lot while I was
gone. It feels good to be INVOLVED again and to have some people who
have something in common with me finally.
I hope everyone is enjoying their pre-christmas time.
Be blessed~ Anita