Hi, Sally. I appreciate your thoughtful reply. I haven't had a pelvic floor study done -- did your ob-gyn do that? I've had a sitz marker study done to gauge transit .. and I have a story to go with it. My GI had me taking Mira lax and two citrucel caplets every day for more that a year when she ordered the study -- ordered because even though I have copious loose bowel movements every day, there is a trouble spot in that redundant, torturous transverse colon where some stool just lays there, so she calls it constipation. I was instructed to discontinue the miralax and citrucel for the 5 days of the study and not to take any laxatives. First day X-ray showed the sitz marker rings travel well thru small bowel; second and third days X-rays showed them bogged down in my transverse colon. By the third day I was in such miserable discomfort, bloating, grotesque distention that I cheated and ate coconut butter (a natural laxative) which prompted an enormous bowel movement. Of course the next day the X-ray showed that the markers had passed all the way through to the sigmoid colon. Because of that, my GI concluded that I have normal transit speed -- I didn't tell her about the coconut butter.
You're right, it's a huge surgery. But I completely resonate with you that we can't live our lives dictated by our colon. For me, it's the debilitating pain, which feels like stage 6 labor pains, and the specter of another 6 cm volvulus sending me to the ER. You're prudent to get a second opinion. It will give you confidence that you're doing the right thing, whatever that choice winds up being. I made a note of the two meds you mentioned. My GI gave me linzess, but it only caused me watery diarrhea.
Please post any updates if you can, and I will do the same.