Scared

Hi Carolyn...did you mean Dr. Koch at Indiana U?....He's the main man there...invented the Indiana Pouch. Just wondering did you ask Dr. Koch how many neobladders he's done on women? If so have him give you a contact list of his successes so you can talk with them. I understand why you want a neo...i think we all did but when you look at the stats its not always successful with women as we have a shorter urethra and its much more difficult to hook up. But if Dr. Koch has this surgery perfected go for it.
We have a section on the main page on different diversions...you might want to read that.
As far as the surgery and recovery...its highly individual. The first day the roughest but you'll have a morphine pump to get you thru it and each day is a little better. They will have you up and walking by day 2 and will encourage you to do it on a regular basis as they want to wake up your bowels. With the neo or the indiana Pouch they take substantial intestine so you will not get any food until your bowels wake up and believe me you won't care. You just have to put this in perspective...it gets better with each day and your strength will be debilitated for a while but it comes back. You're in an excellent facility which is the main thing with this surgery.
Any other concerns or questions we'll be happy to answer..........Pat

Carolyn,
You can start your own thread, go to new topic, then write your story, we will all answer you rather than having you on someone elses thread, its okay you did that , give us any important info, so we can help. theres quite a few here that went to Indiana U, if thats where your going,,Pat a senior member is the best to talk to you as she had hers at about your age , but she has an Indiana Pouch, did they offer that,,? STAGE 2, MUSCLE invasive, yes??. IT HELPS TO KNOW ALL THIS STUFF.....Ginger

Carolyn,

Yes nurses are sometimes there worst best friend. Can you give us some details on your situation, how it started, date , info on your path report.
The first five days are a little rough, but you have pain med's as needed, and you will be walking the second day after surgery. You will be eating jello and liquids at first, maybe for 2 to 3 days,,,day 3 you will have real food, maybe, but a good chance, I realized being scared didn't help anything,, of course my husband had the surgery, but guess what he said the worry was worse than the surgery, and he means that..they keep you very comfortable. What are you doing for a deversion??
pLEASE FILL US IN , WE ARE ALL FAMILY HERE, READY TO HELP YOU OUT!!!!Ginger

I'm trying to deal with getting the news they say I'm a stage 2 but want to do the neo procedure but I'm so scared about the pain after surg. I'm 60 but very active and still working in nursing but some how it does not help being a nurse it seems worse to me. I thought I was so healthy and did not take one medication. I'm having surg in 10 days at IU with Dr. Knoh which they say is good but everything is going so fast. Can some one tell me what the post op will be like especially the first 5 days.

(Carolyn, I moved your post to a whole new thread--Zachary)