Our friend Iris recently had her two year follow-up after her J-pouch surgery, and had her second pouchoscopy. For those of you who are unfamiliar, a pouchoscopy is basically like a colonoscopy, but for those of us who have J-pouches instead of colons, it takes almost no time at all since the J-pouch is rather small.
Iris had no issues this time around, so that was great. She filmed the pouchoscopy as it was happening: for those of you who are more interested in the biological part of medicine, you’ll enjoy the middle of this video. Be forewarned: there is some graphic material! She didn’t have to do any prep before the pouchoscopy, so her pouch has some stool in it.
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A few months ago, I had a pouchoscopy procedure done to figure out why my J-Pouch is bleeding. The results came in, but were not favorable. I explain the results and my feelings about them in this video.
“I came to win, to fight, to conquer, to thrive
I came to win, to survive, to prosper, to rise
To fly” ~Rihanna
~Nadia
QUESTION: If you have had surgery, what complications arise and how do you deal with them? Please share here!
There’s nothing pretty about IBD. From the moment you start experiencing symptoms there’s a certain sense of embarrassment that you experience. Nobody wants diarrhea. Nobody wants to poop 20 times a day or have blood coming out of their bottom, and rarely do people talk about it in casual conversation; but that’s where it starts. It doesn’t finish there. A series of even more undignified procedures and issues follow. It takes enormous ability to overcome the shame of feeling embarrassed over the lack of control you have over your body. Losing your colon and rectum, living with an ostomy and numerous other issues are challenges that a person with IBD can face. Acceptance of this being your reality is often very hard and can cause an individual to encounter a lot of mixed emotions.
Recently I started experiencing blood passing out of my JPouch– despite that it is lying dormant, and I have an ostomy. Once again, I am having a pouchoscopy to see what is wrong. I honestly have to say that I am beginning to become very despondent over the fact that my body continues to be very uncooperative and I hate it. Undergoing a colonoscopy/pouchoscopy means submitting yourself to yet another procedure that will hopefully be helpful in the end. But it doesn’t dismiss the feelings you have going into a procedure like this. Or the fear that you have worrying about what the doctor will find. For myself, each and every time I undergo another procedure, I can’t help feeling that a little piece of my dignity is stripped away. Even though I know the procedure is for the greater good and is being done to diagnose the problem, it is still difficult to have to submit to these tests time and time again and the problems just continue. BUT Remember: There is NO SHAME in getting well.
(***In the video I say 5 doctors are in the procedure room—that is a bit of an exaggeration, usually it is the doctor and one or two nurses—I don’t mean to freak anyone out)
“When all this started, I asked myself, ‘Am I going to withdraw from the world, like most people do, or am I going to live?’ I decided I am going to live-or at least try to live-the way I want, with dignity, with courage, with humor, with composure.” ~Mitch Albom
The video about my first pouchoscopy attempt is finally available! A pouchoscopy, for those who don’t know, is a procedure for people with J-pouches. It’s like a colonoscopy in that the doctor can check out the overall health of the pouch plus take any biopsies needed to check for cancer or other diseases.
My first pouchoscopy didn’t exactly go as planned.
Keep fighting,
~Dennis
Question: Have you had a pouchoscopy? How did it go? Reply to this post for all to see!
It’s hard to believe but one year has passed since my J-pouch was constructed! On Tuesday I’m going in for my first pouchoscopy, so rest assured there will be a video in the near future describing this glorious procedure in all the detail you’ve come to expect from my videos. Hopefully everything looks alright!
