True, I knew I would have it, but I did think it was just going to be for 4 weeks, instead its going to be 5 1/2. A week and a half more may not seem like a long time to you, but believe me, when you have a tube sticking out of your belly every day you're very aware of it.
The tubing connects to a bag which collects my waste. It is NOT like a regular ileostomy. With an ileostomy the bag is attached to your side. This bag is at the end of a 3 foot tube and I drag it around the house with me. When I want to go on an outing I attach the catheter to a little leg bag that I can strap around my leg. The reason I have all this is so that my internal pouch (my new kock pouch) can heal from surgery before we ask it to grow and hold waste on a regular basis.
In two weeks I am going back up to Cleveland for my post-op visit with my surgeon. I'm very excited for this visit #1 because they will remove the constant drain and teach me how to intubate on my own. No more dragging a bag around. I will cover my stoma with a little patch and only put the tube in every few hours when I need to empty. Piece of cake! #2 Reason for being excited is I have reason to believe that after this visit I may have one more check up in a couple of months (maybe) but after that will probably only have yearly visits with my surgeon!
I love my surgeon, he's wonderful. Couldn't have a better surgeon, BUT, I'm ready to be done with my monthly visits to the Cleveland Clinic. Once this is over I can move on with my life! That's totally exciting for me. No more wondering what step to take next, what medications I'll be on and for how long, what my next exam will show, what the surgeon says can be done. After all this time it'll be just a yearly scoping of my pouch "Hey that pouch looks great - see you next year!" Could life be that good again??
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