Re: RE; J-pouch-from donna

[Guest guest]

Hi Donna,

I've been a member for over a year, but mostly lurk :-)

A J-pouch is an " Ileo-anal anastomosis " . It is a replacement for your

colon, made from a portion of your own body. It is perhaps the

ultimate treatment for Ulcerative Colitis, which I had for 17 years.

In the surgery, the diseased portion of the colon is removed. The

remaining portion is shaped into an inverted " J " and becomes a

working bowel. A second surgery (called re-anastomosis, or take-down)

reattaches your new bowel and from there you're supposedly good to go.

In the meantime, you spend a few weeks on an ostomy bag, an

experience I wasn't thrilled over.

The new working bowel does pretty much everything your old one did.

However, it doesn't absorb water well, so you're subject to loose

stools. In my case, the J-pouch eliminated the near constant cramping

and pain I had with UC. It also reduced the number of trips to the

bathroom by at least half.

There are complications associated with the J-pouch. You can

get " Pouch-itis " , which felt just like UC to me. I met a patient in

the hospital whose J-pouch didn't seem to work after re-anastomosis.

There are patients who had their J-pouches removed, preferring the

ostomy bag. I think more patients are helped by the surgery, but you

should consider the risks involved with any surgery.

If you are seriously thinking of the J-pouch surgery, you should

thouroughly investigate the surgeon. Find out how many J-pouch

procedures the surgeon has performed (My doctor had done well over

100 over 10 years. Waiting was an advantage for me). Find out if you

can talk to patients the surgeon has worked with.

I consider myself to be extremely fortunate. I had no complications

and my recovery time was short and relatively pain-free. I only

needed Tylenol with codeine after the surgery. Also, I have only had

one bout of Pouchitis in the 6 years after my surgery.

Here are a few sites worth looking at for information about the

procedure:

http://jpouch.org - J-pouch support group.

http://www.vesalius.com/graphics/archive/archtn.asp?VID=376 & nrVID=216

This is a page with photos showing the surgery.

http://l.webring.com/hub?ring=ostomy - J-pouch webring

http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/UlcerativeColitis-Jpouch -

J=pouch Yahoo group

Googling " j-pouch " return over 7,000 hits, so there's no lack of

information on the Internet :-)

-stan