10 Week Follow Up - Appointment with Surgeon

     Today I had my 10 week follow up with Dr. Liberman in Marietta. The purpose of this check-up was to make sure that things are going well (which they are!), do an exam of the anastomosis site (where the pouch is attached to the "rectal cuff"), and to discuss and schedule surgery, round 2.

     Dr. L asked how things were going and to be truthful, I feel pretty good. I've been back at work since Christmas Break for about a week and I feel great! There are actually days where I have left school and thought to myself, "Wow! I don't feel like I got hit by a truck today!" Certainly a good feeling! 

     After discussing how things are going, Dr. L performs an "exam". This involved me rolling to side and bringing my knees to my chest, and... well, you probably know what came next. Not pleasant at all! After shoving his finger in my ass, Dr. L says something to the effect of, "Yep... if you don't use it, you lose it!" Not exactly what you want to hear during an "exam" like this! He then proceeds to manually stretch my pouch from the inside. This might be one of the most painful things I've felt during this whole process! I couldn't help but let out a few audible groans to hopefully let him know that I was in pain! It probably lasted no more than 30 seconds, but it was awful and felt like so much longer. I guess the size of the pouch can shrink during the healing phase. I am assuming that this will get better once there is "output" through the pouch. After cleaning me up, he sat me back up and it was time to discuss surgery dates.

     I had hoped that I would be able to wait until school gets out (end of May) to do surgery 2, but Dr. L said I had to have it sooner. He wanted to do it in February, but I told him with my school schedule, this would not work. We finally compromised and settled on mid March as an ideal time. March 20th to be exact! I asked him why I couldn't wait longer, and he basically said that the longer you wait, the harder the recovery/adaptation process is. I guess this makes sense. I'll also be out for only 2-3 weeks this time, so I figure I won't miss too much school again.

    Also, today I set up an appointment to have a "pouchogram" done at the end of the month. I'm not sure exactly what the official name for the procedure is, but I've heard others call it a "pouchogram", so that 's what I'm going to call it! This is basically where they will give me a barium enema and take x-rays to make sure that the pouch is healing properly and there are no leaks. Once this is done, I'll get the official OK to proceed with the second surgery. 

     After leaving the appointment, the pain from the exam lingered for the rest of the day. I passed a little blood and mucus this evening, but they told me to expect that.

     I will update again after my "pouchogram". Until then, I finally get to focus on school for a little while and not worry about my health!