I had surgery to repair a rectalvaginal fistula. I never knew I had a problem until diarrhea started spewing out of my vagina. The cause was diverticulitis that had blown a hole in my colon; however, I didn’t know until after a very long surgery. They removed 1/3 of my colon which resulted in colostomy. I went septic the next day, my heart had to be restarted and was in ICU a week. Unbeknownst to me at the time, the surgeons also severed my left utter. After I healed, all I wanted was a reversal. Instead of a reversal, 3 months later I was diagnosed with breast cancer and had a bilateral mastectomy followed by chemo.

I went to Mayo in Jacksonville and my left kidney was full of waste. Due to my utter being severed, it couldn’t drain to my bladder. They ordered a CT scan and my left kidney was so full, not contrast could go in. So I’ve got a pouch in the front and great doctors drilled a hole in my back to my left kidney and I have a bag in the back to drain the urine from my kidney.

So here’s where I am. In 2 1/2 weeks I have a team of excellent surgeons at Mayo who are going to fix my huge hernia that encompasses my entire abdominal wall, hopefully successfully reconnect my colon and remove my left kidney as I went into renal failure due to the utter being severed. I can not wait to be free from pouches and tubes.

Oh and by the way, the fistula repair was a success. He did it robotically.