ANATOMY
When I mention to
people that I have a j-pouch, they usually give me a quick once-over
glance to search for a bulging bag strapped to my tummy. Haha! (And
this is usually AFTER I explain the surgeries I went through to be
reconnected!) Because of this more than often occurrence, I thought I
should spend a few sentences, for those who care, to bring people up
to speed on the great and mighty J-pouch!
J-POUCH?
So what is a
J-pouch? What does it look like? How does it function differently
than a colon? Why is it called by that name?
As we all know,
everyone has both a small intestine and large intestine. The large
intestine is approximately 5 feet long, and the small intestine is
about 22 feet long. Kind of backwards naming, huh? However, the large
intestine is much wider in diameter, so maybe that's where it came
from. (Imagine comparing a small garden hose to a dryer vent and you get the
picture.) When a person has their large intestines removed, they lose
the portion of their body that had the job of holding waste. What
then, is going to house their waste? That, my friends, is why the
j-pouch is created! Surgeons construct a new “poo house” from the
lower part of the small intestines. It is called a “J-pouch”,
because it looks like a “J”! Get it? Look, here he is, in all his glory!....
(Notice the bordering
guts [colon] missing) A regular person's anatomy looks like this second diagram...
FUN FACT OF THE DAY-
Did you know the colon and the large intestines are one on the same?
The names are used interchangeably. In my experience, somehow most
people have no idea what a colon even is. They think its some random
non-essential, dispensable body part, like the spleen. They took my colon out and its gone forever. When the bordering guts are removed, like mine has been, everything changes.
DIFFERENCES
Just because I have
an internal place to house my waste, doesn't mean the pouch functions
the same as the colon did. For example, one of the main
jobs of the L. intestine is to absorb excess water into the body.The s. intestines, try as they may, will never quite measure up.
Another main job of
the L. intestines is to digest food more thoroughly. The little guy
can't take on nuts, berries or raw veggies like the big guy could.
Adios, delicious salads!
One last obvious
difference is that my tiny, man-made pouch cannot hold as much waste
as a 5 foot tube could. (Duh) I therefore have to use the toilet more
often. This seems a fair trade for having my insides all on the inside again!
J-POUCH AND CROHNS
I only have my own
experience to go off of, so I assume other j-pouches function
differently. Since I have Crohns Disease, I experience a lot of pain
from the pesky ulcers in my small intestines. The pain comes from gas
pushing on the ulcers where my pouch was stitched to my anus. For a
brief 5-10 seconds when gas puts pressure on the ulcers, I am on
---pause---. It literally feels like a balloon
is being inflated inside my butt! Super uncomfortable! This
phenomenon feels to me like a deep nerve pain, which comes and goes.
So what's the big deal, why don't I just use the bano and get the gas
out? Well I don't understand it, but this new anatomy doesn't work
like the old one, and well, its easier said than done. I've learned
to just grin and bear the ulcer pain when necessary. After all, the
world doesn't stop and wait for you when you have to stop and catch your breath.
ARE YOU OKAY?
Sometimes its hard
to mask and the grimaces of pain displayed on my face...
Yet how do I respond
to this question?? I've contemplated responding with, “Usually no.”
However, I usually just say “Yeah, I'm fine” due to the fact that there's
no easy way to tell co-workers/etc that my butt hurts unimaginably
so. I hate lying to people because I'm a terrible liar and people
know I'm full of it, but hey, what would you do? Perhaps I should
just start telling the truth...
I imagine a conversation might
go something like this...
Concerned acquaintance- “Kelsie, are you
okay?”
Me - “No.”
Concerned acq.- "What's wrong?”
Me- “My butt hurts.”
I just might try
this script out sometime, just to see how it blows over! Haha
STAPLES
Despite pain, I am
happy to have my j-pouch inside of me, working hard each day to do
his job! Although the small bowel was designed by God to be a middle man,
between the stomach and the colon, mine is learning his new
responsibilities. I'm quite attached to him, and he to me. ;) When
surgeons created him, they used hundreds of staples.
These zillions
of tiny staples are now encased
in flesh and will be in me forever. Thankfully they don't show in
airport body scanners, probably because they are made of titanium.
Good thing they are invisible to the TSA, because I've been harassed
enough by airport security when I had my ostomy bag, thanks!
That's pretty much the skinny on the J-pouch. Hopefully now there are a few less people confused and assume a J-pouch is some made up alien race from Star Trek. Who knows? You do!
That's pretty much the skinny on the J-pouch. Hopefully now there are a few less people confused and assume a J-pouch is some made up alien race from Star Trek. Who knows? You do!
