If you'd asked me a month ago whether I thought 4 weeks off would be long enough to recover, I would probably have pulled a very worried face! Now, heading back to uni, I feel really healthy.
The pouch hasn't been flawless, however. For anyone considering a pouch/in the early days, sometimes things can start off great, then seem to go downhill, which I've learned. For the past week or so, my loo visits have increased slightly, and I keep getting cramping in the pouch area (painless, just waves of pressure). This means I'm going to the loo more often, and can't wait as long. Speaking to other pouchies, this often happens in the first few weeks, and it can take up to a month or more to settle down, so I'm not too worried. My surgeon has offered to see me back in clinic if I do have more problems.
I've also had spots of pouch bleeding, which again my surgeon told me not to worry about. I'm still on a learning curve with what to eat and I think I've maybe rushed in to eating things too quickly - as was shown with what I like to call 'the mushroom episode'!
Mushrooms went down a dream with my ileostomy. I scoffed at the guidelines that told me not to eat them. So when I tried them with my pouch earlier this week, I expected a similarly flawless process of digestion.
BIG MISTAKE.
I got what I think was a partial obstruction - waves of pain, night leakage several nights in a row - this lasted for a few days. On the second night I woke up in serious pain, went to the loo, and out came a load of WHOLE mushrooms. Seriously I don't know whether to laugh or cry.
Since then the cramping has continued, which I reckon is my pouch giving me the message that it does NOT want mushrooms again.
Whenever I've had the night leakage, a normal pad has been enough to stop it. It's literally tiny, and with a few Kegel exercises over the next few weeks I figure it'll stop altogether.
Other than that I feel fab. My scar has totally healed up and it's pretty neat. I'm totally med free, and not even taking loperamide.
In other news since new year I've kept going out and about and feeling better. In myself I feel okay, which is the main thing. Even though things aren't 'normal' yet, I'm still able to go about a pretty active routine!
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