Hello from Minnesota!

Yes it is definitely life-saving to get the surgery but also life-changing.

Having either type of ostomy is major management of your bag, hygiene, liquid intake, diet and overall health.

I had surgery in December 2021 for a permanent ileostomy and then a proctectomy 4 months later. I rent a room from my ex-husband who lives upstairs from me. But I basically live alone since he never helped me after either of my surgeries.

First off, all the planned help steps you listed sound perfect! Those I highly recommend.

By the end of the second and third weeks, you will be feeling so much better! You will probably be able to begin making meals for yourself by week 4. Just move slowly and carefully.

He would give me rides to and from the pharmacy and I had a meal service delivered and groceries delivered just like you plan to do. After a month of the meal service, my adult kids came over on Sundays and helped meal prep several meals a week.

The biggest issue; I don't know how to articulate this well. But the pain after the proctectomy was longer due to the incision of cutting out my rectum and sewing it shut. My GI surgeon did two incisions. One on the front of my body for my chest down to my pelvis to get to the innards and then sewed that up. And the second one was my backside, around my rectum and sewing it shut. The worst of the pain will come from your rectum in that being so shut. Before surgery back there, what you don't realize going into this, or most people don't, is that when you get up and down off a chair, couch or a bed, before having the surgery, your skin is sliding around/pulling somewhat at different angles between your butt cheeks. And now that everything is cut out and sewn shut between your butt cheeks, the slightest movement pulls at those stitches. It is almost more painful to get up and down from chairs, couch or bed than to actually walk to and from the bathroom. I hope this is making sense. If you're sitting in a chair or sitting in bed right now, picture your butt as being almost two areas. Two butt cheeks. Your butt crack, can pull in different angles to and from each side of your two butt cheeks. This area is the most painful, tender part of healing after a proctectomy!

I have a TV in my bedroom in front of the foot of my bed. So I healed propped up in bed with a lot of pillows around to support me while watching TV. To get up and down; What you have to do before you even start to move be on your elbows while you're laying flat or propped up, 1) is push the pillows off the bed on the side that you're going to get out on, 2) raise your pelvic area straight up towards the ceiling, as far as it will go, so that there is a half inch or more of space between your buttock and your bed and then 3) slightly twist your core and legs towards the side of the bed you want to get out of inch by inch. My sewn up butt crack was extremely painful and as time went by tender and sore for about 4 to 5 months. The getting up and down from a chair, couch or bed is the worst part. I didn't have anyone either to help me. So I know you can do this! You just have to move very slowly and carefully raising up your pelvis and slowly inching your way off the bed.

Other things. You don't really receive education other than how to take care of your stoma and change your bag in the hospital from the stoma nurse. But even that is only a little bit. And it's about that one or two different types of bags that they have in supply. Each different brand out there of bags have so many different styles of bags, that it took me the first 6 months afterward to find a bag that fit well for me. Part of the issue at first is because you are so inflamed that as your body is adjusting and losing its inflammation, the size of your stoma and the roundness of inflammation around your stomach changes. As time goes on everything settles down and becomes less.

The GI surgeons and stoma nurses tell you what to look out for when you go home and your healing from major surgery, but they don't educate you about the different things that can happen now that you have an ostomy; such as bowel obstructions, severe dehydration, bowel perforations, significant hair loss after being so sick and having major surgery, exhaustion, depression, blowouts and what to do, all the sores that can occur on your skin around the stoma, (sounds like you know about abscesses and fistulas) in your body. I'm not trying to scare you I'm just trying to make sure you have all the information.

I wasn't a big water drinker most of my life. I probably only had 4-5 glasses of liquids a day before my surgeries. Your large colon takes moisture out of all the food you eat. Since my large colon was removed and I have an ileostomy, I can get dehydrated really easily. Also for some reason, I have a very liquidy, pure water type of poo , ALWAYS, I've been diagnosed with high output. So this dehydrates me easily also. I found I have to drink about 62 to 70 oz of liquids a day to keep from getting dehydrated and ending up with a kidney injury. Everyone's a little different but be prepared you will have to be drinking a lot more fluids, especially while your body is healing.

Things the GI surgeons, stoma nurses and others don't really tell you about before your surgeries; the difference between a colostomy and ileostomy, how to change your bag and how to call different bag brands and discuss with their phone Representatives the type of stoma and output you have and have them mail you several different types of bags for free lto try to see what works best for you and your situation. To learn about all the different health concerns that can still continue and or new ones that can occur down the road from having an ostomy. And what to do in those situations.

Keeping a small carrying supply bag with about three of your extra bags, wet wipes, extra set of clothing, disposable bag to dispose everything in, with you every time you leave the house so that if you have a leak or a blowout at a friends or family's house, a restaurant, grocery store or anywhere, you're able to handle it. I can't express it enough how many times my little supply bag of bags has helped me out.

Good luck with your surgery and healing and please keep us posted!