Koch's Pouch General Information

[JimE]

Almost 21 years ago, due to ulcerative colitis I had the surgery to remove my colon and replace it with a Koch's pouch. Never having had surgery before I was naturally scared and felt sorry for myself. Getting out of the hospital bed and walking around seemed to be the worst problem, thinking my stitches were going to fall out. The nurses were very patient with me and in a couple of days I was walking all over the hospital pushing my IV pole as I went.

After coming home, two problems seemed to affect me 1) Being brave enough to take the temporary tube out while flushing it out and 2) making certain I had enough fluids to keep from getting constipated, which meant flushing the pouch out more that I had to. The temporary tube came out and I was able to insert a catheter after 3 weeks, which seemed like a life time, since I had been running around with a bag strapped to my leg during that time. And, I was able to go back to work.

To make this short, after about 14 years, I developed a cancer inside the pouch and it was expertly removed by the same surgeon performing the original surgery, Doctor Dana Launer, who passed away a few years ago. It hit me quite hard when he passed since he had saved my life twice.

For those of you out there who have a constipation problem. Everyone says you should drink grape juice. I found that 12 ounces of chocolate milk works better than anything else. You do have to remember to drink plenty of other liquids everyday. I don't think alcohol qualifies, since it tends to make you get dehydrated.

One last thing: I had prostate surgery done laproscopically 4 years ago and in spite of the Koch's pouch, the surgeon did a very neat job.

Jim