When I think back to the time I lived with a stoma, the present feels a little surreal. It's been well over 600 days since I had the reversal surgery and was discharged, so in years that's almost two. And yet, looking back on those days, the one thing that stands out clearly is the habit of counting days. Day so-and-so, then day so-and-so. Every morning when I opened my eyes, the first thing I did was tally up which number day after surgery it was.
These days I just eat like anyone else. A rice ball in the morning, a roll of gimbap when I get a little hungry after heading out, makguksu with some kimchi on top for lunch. For dinner, a warm bowl of something like chicken soup. Nothing-special menus, but there was a time when all of this felt like a frightening challenge. I'd worry that touching spicy kimchi would upset my stomach, that something cold would turn my belly inside out, reading the situation with every single bite. Now I can bite into six slices of watermelon and it's just delicious. That fact sometimes brings a lump to my throat.
It takes longer than you'd expect for the gut to find its way again. It's not that you wake up fine the day after the reversal; your body needs time to adjust to its new plumbing. For the first few months, even how often I went to the bathroom was all over the place, and sudden urgency made going out feel scary. So I recorded everything, my diet and my timing alike, building up my own data on how I'd react to what I ate. Do that long enough and a pattern eventually emerges, and one day it suddenly hits you: "Oh, I didn't think about it once today."
There was a day I took off to the countryside to get some fresh air. A few hours by car to a mountain village, a meal there, and back again. Just an ordinary day trip, nothing to it, but something like that felt so good. There was a time I couldn't relax until I'd checked where the restrooms were, so the fact that the tension has eased feels like the real sign of recovery. You feel your body getting better in these small everyday freedoms long before you see it in test numbers.
If anyone reading this is about to have a reversal or has just finished one, I want to tell you not to be in too much of a hurry. At first it's slow and uneasy, but your body will surely settle in at its own pace. The day the habit of counting days quietly disappears, that's recovery.
This is just my own personal recovery story, and since physical condition and diet differ from person to person, please be sure to consult your own doctor.