Hello everyone -
I was released from the hospital late last night. I am now at home continuing my recovery. The surgery took 5 hours to complete. Everything that Dr. Brand (the surgeon) had hoped for has happened. There was a concern that I had Crohn's Disease, a disease that affects the entire digestive tract, instead of Ulcerative Colitis, which is is confined to the colon. With Crohn's Disease this surgery would not have been useful. When he opened me up and examined my small intestine he said it looked great, and noted that over 80% of my colon was diseased. A large fear of mine was that this would have to be done in 3 surgeries, which would have required a much longer recovery time, however this was able to be avoided and will be completed in two surgeries. So that means in this one surgery they were able to remove my colon, remove my rectum, and create the J pouch all in one step.
Since the surgery my physical recovery has been going well. I am healing nicely from everything. They left one drain in my body that will be removed next week when I have an office visit with Dr. Brand. My wound is healing nicely and my ostomy looks as it should. The only original concern that they had after surgery was that due to my height my intestines were going to be too stretched out. The precaution they took for this was tilting my bed at a 30 degree angle and letting gravity work its 9.8 m/s2 magic. Last night before I left, Dr. Brand came in and wanted to check my J pouch to make sure it was healing properly. He stuck a couple of his fingers up my butt and felt around. After I gave him the ten dollar tip he was looking for, he explained to me that everything felt great and it was precisely how he had made it. He was very encouraged by this and so far the fears over my height have been averted.
Physically, I am still in a great amount of pain and am very sore. I walk like an old man and get in and out of bed like an even older man. Mentally I have been struggling greatly with the changes in my body and my new way of life. I have yet to accept many of the changes, as I hate them all. I tell myself that the changes are only temporary. This helps sometimes, most times it doesn't. But when it comes down to it, I will only have to deal with these changes for a few months, after that if all goes well, I will be well.
To recap, as of now everything has gone perfectly. Every problem that could've come up has been averted. The recovery process will be long and grueling, but once it is over it will all be worthwhile.
I appreciate all the well wishes that everyone has thrown my way. It truly means the world to me. I apologize to those who I have not had a chance to respond to. I am very tired, very weak, and it hurts to talk. But your thoughts have not gone unnoticed and they touch my heart, each one of them. Thank you all.
Tom Meersman
P.S. If anyone asks, I don't have colitis anymore.