What the heck is a J-Pouch?

For anyone out there wondering what a "J-Pouch" is, here's the short version:

First of all, the surgery is performed on someone that has a bum colon (i.e.: Ulcerative Colitis). The only cure is to remove the offending organ, however, for all the biologically-impaired folks out there, the colon actually does some important stuff.

The primary function is fluid absorption. It also absorbs nutrients not picked up by the small intestine. Then the colon turns the left-overs into what we hope to be a nice, neat package for deposit in a receptacle of your choice: toilet, pot-o-john, bed pan, hole-in-the-ground, NY Mets hat, etc. In J-Pouch surgery, the surgeon removes the colon, all of the colon, and shapes the distal end of the small intestine into a pouch (shaped like a "J", brilliant right?) to function as a collection area. As the food-stuff gets to the pouch, it sits around for a while so fluid and nutrient absorption can occur. The tail end of the pouch is attached directly to the rectum to facilitate the aforementioned "package" deposits. Everyone's gotta poop!

The amazing thing is that after healing is complete, the pouch will essentially assume the entire function of the removed colon. All hail the human body! We're keeping our fingers crossed for a one-stage surgery. One-stage means they are able to make all the required connections in one surgery: small intestine connects to pouch, which connects to rectum, which connects to the outside world. If the surgeon isn't comfortable with the quality of the connections, meaning they're not quite air and fluid tight, he'll opt for the two-stage surgery. In two-stage surgery, they install a temporary ileostomy bag to bypass the pouch until it has a chance to heal properly. Figure 2-3 months with the bag, then a second surgery, hence two-stage, to remove the ileostomy and connect the plumbing permanently.

That's how it goes. She's been in surgery for a couple hours now, 2 or 3 hours to go!