Hello. I had my ileostomy closure surgery 10 weeks ago. I am now living life as I did before my cancer diagnosis 14 months ago. I do not need to wear extra protection when I go out and I have the confidence to go swimming and go to the gym. I just wanted to tell others who are awaiting ileostomy closure surgery that I can only thing I can think has helped me recover so quickly is the pelvic floor exercise. I started doing them 4 months before the procedure. I did them every day as often as I could, I still do them now and life is good. I knew I'd be having the op last year so as soon as I had finished my chemo I started the exercises. That's it. That's all I wanted to say, if you are waiting for ileostomy closure surgery, give it a go, it could make all the difference to your recovery.

Not out of the woods yet of course. Regular scans and colonostomys for the nextt 4 years, hoping and praying I will be a survivor.