Quick Recap
2010: I had my second surgery and was given a temporary colostomy.
2011: I had another surgery to remove the temporary colostomy.
2014: I had my fourth surgery and ended up with my second colostomy, which I still have.
Yeah, so I’ve gone back and forth with a colostomy and lived to tell the tale. Today I thought I would talk about what having a colostomy reversed is like. This surgery is commonly referred to as a “take-down surgery” or reverting to my “indoor plumbing” as my surgeon would say.
Before I could have the colostomy reversed, the doctors had to make sure my colon was healthy enough to reconnect. You can’t reconnect diseased/inflamed tissue. I had several sigmoidoscopies to check the rectum and status of the tissue. I honestly can’t tell you how many sigmoidoscopies I had that year. The good thing is that there was no bowel prep involved. The doctor was just scoping the rectum and since my rectum wasn’t connected to my colon there was nothing that needed to be cleansed. Phew. I was sedated for each procedure because I won’t let a doctor near me with a scope if I’m not heavily sedated. Yay drugs!
I had my first colostomy for about a year until my rectum had healed enough for the take-down surgery. I had no issues with the colostomy and honestly loved it, but I knew it was only temporary. Life before was awful, I was chained to my toilet and could barely live my life. I was depressed and hated life. The colostomy gave me a chance to live my life for the first time ever. I no longer had to sit on the sidelines and watch everyone else have all the fun.
A glimpse into my life when I had my first colostomy. I got to be a regular girl in her twenties.
I was incredibly nervous about going back to my pre-colostomy days. Would I automatically be chained to the toilet again? Would I be sidelined again? I have chronic illness PTSD and was so worried that life would go back to being a nightmare. Talk about anxiety. Not to mention I still had to go through another major surgery.
The actual surgery was uneventful. I remember waking up in recovery fully aware of what was happening and since I was fully aware, I was in so much pain. Usually, I’m pretty sedated in recovery and have no idea what’s happening. The anesthesia team let me down this time. I also noticed they did not give me a central line and opted for a regular IV right below my armpit. I have notoriously shitty veins and usually have a central line for surgery. It’s just so much easier. My veins can’t hold a good line for more than a day or two and usually, I’m in the hospital a week recovering. I don’t want to have to deal with multiple failing IV lines. Ugh.
When you are recovering from a bowel resection your bowels completely stop moving, they become paralyzed. It takes a few days for everything to come back online and you can’t go home until you have a bowel movement and can tolerate food. Passing gas is the first sign that things are going well, this is why every doctor and nurse will be constantly asking you about farting. It’s a good thing.
Not having my bowels move is weird, because my whole life has been trying to get them to STOP. Having the opposite problem is very odd. Also, I had no idea what to expect. For a year I had not gone to the bathroom like a normal person, I had been pooping in a bag. When feces exits the stoma, it would just dump out into the bag. I had no say in the matter. I kind of had to potty train myself again. I couldn’t remember what it was like. How will I know I need to go to the toilet??
It was probably about 4 days post op, I remember it was the middle of the night. I was fidgeting around and tossing and turning. I felt something in my backside and was super annoyed. Ugh, what is this? Why do I feel so odd? OH YEAH! My body is telling me I have to POOP!! So I slowly (remember I had a very fresh major abdominal incision) got up and sat on the toilet to poop for the first time in over a year. It was very exciting.
I was warned they I could have accidents in the beginning and I may need to wear adult diapers. Not going to lie, I had worn adult diapers during my pre-colostomy days when things were really bad. I used to wear them on the regular. Knowing though, that this time around it should only be temporary, I was okay. It turned out that I didn’t actually have to use adult diapers and didn’t have any accidents as I transitioned back to toilet pooping. I was very surprised and relieved, although if I had to, I’m sure it would have been fine.
My recovery lasted about a month, maybe a little bit more. Since all the diseased tissue in my colon had been removed life was okay, I didn’t revert back to the dark days. I wasn’t chained to my toilet. In fact, a few months later I signed up for Team Challenge, and within a year I completed a half-marathon. I was able to continue living my life without an ostomy. I still had my bad days here and there, but for the most part, I was okay.