I’ve had a j-pouch now for 10 years. It’s a million times better than an ileostomy. Everything is internal, so you feel and look like a normal person again. Yeah you have to use the bathroom more times a day – but for the most part it’s pain free and you have complete control and continence. Plus there are lots of things you can do to “slow yourself down” – immodium, codeine, probiotics, etc. In my opinion, the j-pouch is the better option if your only alternative is an ileostomy. People who have success with it – which is the majority of people – don’t bother with posting on the internet. Same as anything – bad results get all the press. People with good j-pouches are off living their lives and not posting in forums. My gastroenterologist told me that the statistic is that 95% of people who have the j-pouch surgery are happy that they did so.

Remember – a jpouch surgery can be reversed, if needed. I would go ahead and give it a shot. Odds are, you’ll be happy with it.

I can’t help noticing a lot of slight down beat writing out there on the net.

Looking for positive stories and outcomes because that’s what I want to find. Not very scientific is it.

You seem quite happy with it Dennis. That’s good.

I’m sorry to hear you are facing surgery and have been suffering with the disease so long. When I talked to my surgeon, I had questions more about the surgery than the surgeon himself. He told me upfront that he performs about a third of the the J-pouch surgeries at Mayo and has done hundreds of them, and that seemed good enough to me. He told me the success rate the hospital has overall and I felt no need to shop further for surgeons. Most people when they face surgery have very little choice about which surgeon they see, considering where they might live geographically.

Dennis