T2 diagnosis for husband, how to choose option?

From my research, European haircuts are a bit more stylish, and you can smoke in the barbershop.

I admit...i'm a fraud....i know nothing about European vs. American haircuts.....i can't even find anyone to cut my hair right....and i've done a lot of research....i stalk hair salons!! Pat

I think that as long as you have specific questions properly written down, any surgeon should be happy to be of assistance. It's when the patient turns into Columbo--"Excuse me, sir, just one more thing...."-- that the boundaries can get a little uncomfortable. You seem very knowledgeable and prepared. You've obviously done your homework. Some doctors are great at email, since they can reply when they have a free moment; you might ask if that's what he prefers.

And there are many questions that only your own doctor can answer. Everyone here is well-intentioned and has studied bladder cancer, but if I asked, say, Patricia or Rosie if I needed a haircut, they could guess and quote some statistics and theorize on the relative merits of American vs. European barbering techniques, but in order to really answer the question they would have to actually see my head.

The answer, by the way, is yes, I do need a haircut.
Yes, if your husband is having part of his colon made into a neobladder or pouch, the colon has to "wake up" before he can eat. It's not a big deal. He's not going to be very hungry anyway. In my case I think it took three days.

Once again, thank you-thank you-thank you! It is SO good to get a chance to talk to others about this. My husband is 'almost' ready to talk. As you can imagine, it's been a steep learning curve. Yes, Wendy, we are fortunate to have Dr. O'Donnell as our surgeon. We've had one face-to-face, and one phone conference. We are making a list of things to ask at our next phone call, because he's scheduled so soon for surgery (well, kind of---maybe 80% scheduled, because they don't have a room, but Dr. O'Donnell has time. We won't know until the Friday before the Monday surgery).

I came across a kind of strange story on the web last night. A woman and her surgeon agreed that she was quite heavy, with lots of stomach fat and folds, so they had a plastic surgeon do a tummy tuck at the same time as the bladder removal. That way, she had a better place for the pouch (can't remember whether it was internal or external). Have you ever heard of something like this?

And Patricia, thanks so much for the internal pouch story. We orginally started off thinking that the external pouch with its quick recovery would be best, but the more we learn, the more we change our minds. My husband went to a former pastor and current friend for some comfort, and found out that the guy had to catheterize himself four times a day, and we had no idea! His bladder just stopped working, so he caths. So I guess it would be practical, except for the problem of the stricture possibly coming back. When this has happened in the past, he has just had it stretched. I wonder why we can't plan on this?

Have to ask Dr. O'Donnell, I guess.

I also found a wonderful site last night: www.uoaa.org/ that had a couple of brochures, one of which was practically a book, about ostomies. My, how my nighttime reading has changed!

I think we're pretty close to deciding on a pouch, but just can't figure out which one.

Tell me this, oh wise ones: how often can we request to talk to the surgeon before we are considered a nuisance? I know they must answer questions a lot, but I don't want to go in blind.

Dr. O'Donnell did tell us that in a survey of cancer survivors, the satisfaction level for quality of life was the same for internal and external pouches, so there is no "wrong" decision.

And am I reading the stories correctly that you can't have anything by mouth in the hospital until the bowels move?

so much to learn......

Stephany in Iowa

Hi Stephany...yes i have an Indiana Pouch...4 l/2 yrs out now. My stoma is at my navel which i happen to like as its easy to get to...just unbutton the pants and voila i'm ready to cath. The area from the stoma to the pouch has no nerve endings so its not painful ..at first you're a bit hesitant that maybe you'll go to far with the cath or puncture something....all of which was totally ungrounded in my fears...the stoma nurses just laughed at me....ha..easy for them........you eventually get the feel of it...theres a little pop when you're there and you master the technique pretty quickly. You do have to train it but no more so than the neo-bladder...it took me about 3 weeks to get up to holding for 4 hrs and now its allowing me to sleep thru the night...6 to 8 hrs really.....so my body and myself have completely accepted this new way to void.....no big deal. The body heals and there is no lumpiness or any indication really that anything is "out of place". Some doctors prefer to put the stoma lower on the abdomen...there are even cosmetic stomas now i hear. Whatever your choice trust me your body will completely adjust to it in time. I hope you've read some of the guys stories to give you another perspective. Pat

Hi Stephanie,

U of Iowa? Michael O'Donnell, head of uro-oncology there, is a great friend and advisor to this site.

Linda W's info is here: blcforum.com/smf/index.php/topic,433.0.html

Pat - a pouch person herself, may know more than I do on the particulars of doing continent reservoirs on men, but I do know of guys who have had (internal) pouches AkA continent reservoirs done. There are two stories on the main site here:
blcwebcafe.org/stories.asp (scroll down to "internal pouch, male)and probably more in this forum's storyboard section.

If you don't get input from guys here, we could try the email list.

I agree that a urethral stricture makes the neobladder option sound less desirable.

Keep in touch,
Wendy