Back to peak fitness after J Pouch surgery

Featuring Ben Barbanel who is a member of the Red Lion Group and owner of a J Pouch. Ben recently embarked on a fitness program and speaks about his journey to return to peak fitness at the “grand old age of 45”! Ben is a regular contributor to Red Lion Social channels and last year was invited by Janindra Warusavitarne to speak at a European Colorectal Surgery Conference in Prague. He also Co-presented with Janindra on a Red Lion Group webcast on the “Patient / Surgeon Relationship”. Apart from the fitness content, the conversation and follow up Q&A covered in this session covers many topics relevant to Pouch Patients.

Uchu Meade & Gabriela Poufou – Pharmacy and dietary…

Pharmacy & Dietary advice for J Pouch patients, Q& A featuring Uchu Meade, Consultant pharmacist, and Gabriela Poufou, Advanced Specialist Inflammatory Bowel Disease Dietitian – both at St. Mark’s Hospital, London (the UK National Bowel Hospital).

Both have previously presented at Red Lion Group Information days and zoom webcasts and you can find recordings on our YouTube channel

For the first time, this session featured the two of them together and the format of the whole session was in the form of an interactive Question & Answer, on two of the most interesting subjects for people with an internal pouch (J Pouch or similar) and that is on the topics of DIETARY and MEDICATION advice for J pouch patients.

In April 2023, Uchu Meade achieved a significant milestone in her career by becoming the first consultant level pharmacist at St Mark’s Hospital. She has presented for RLG previously on the subject “Pharmacy advice for Pouch Patients“. Also taking part was Gabriela Poufou. Gabriela is an Advanced Specialist Inflammatory Bowel Disease Dietitian at St. Mark’s. Her webcast “Healthy eating for Patients with a J Pouch” is one of the most viewed recordings on our YouTube channel.

Attendees were invited to submit questions in advance and also during the session.

After watching this recording, it would be much appreciated if you could submit your feedback at https://forms.office.com/e/a4A1nVT44V.  Survey results will support Uchu and Gabriela’s personal professional development and that interaction with patient groups such as pouchees is a very important part of their professional  evaluation.

Janindra Warusavitarne – Surgeon/Patient – a special relationship

This webcast took place on Wednesday 10th July at 7:30 pm (BST) and featured Janindra Warusavitarne, the renowned St. Mark’s colorectal surgeon. Janindra is one of our most popular speakers and many of you will know him personally, or may have seen him on a previous webcast – speaking about advances in pouch surgery. On this occasion, the focus was on the importance of the surgeon/patient relationship.

Also taking part was Ben Barbanel, a Red Lion Group member, who was fortunate to have had his pouch constructed by Janindra about 5 years ago. Ben was honoured to have been invited to speak at the annual conference of the European Society of Coloproctology (ESC) in September 2023 on the subject “What do the public expect from surgeons”?

Janindra commented “The concept of shared decision making is vital to ensure that in these challenging times we as clinicians hear what patients have to say and how the services we provide can ensure that their quality of life is also improved, particularly in the context of chronic diseases“

Sonia Frearson – Preparing for Surgery at St. Mark’s

Psychological preparation for Surgery at St. Mark’s Hospital featuring Dr Sonia Frearson, Consultant Clinical Psychologist and head of the St Mark’s Psychological Medicine Unit (PMU).

Recorded on behalf of the Red Lion Group (pouchsupport.org) on 21 June 2024.

Ellie Bradshaw – Biofeedback management for J pouch

Presented by Ellie Bradshaw – Pouch and Stoma Care Nurse at St Mark’s Hospital London.

Recorded on 29 May 2024 on behalf of the Red Lion Group.

The latest webcast in the RLG 2024 series took place on 29 May with Ellie Bradshaw talking about Biofeedback, a unique method of pouch emptying. Over fifty pouchees attended the event from the comfort of their own homes via zoom. Ellie is a highly experienced nursing specialist who used to be in charge of the Biofeedback unit at St Marks Hospital. She took a sabbatical to work at the Princess Grace Hospital in London and has now returned to St Marks to join the highly experienced and award winning pouch nurse specialist team. Her presence will add considerable capabilities and expertise to a team which is already world class. Ellie’s passion for helping pouchees was evident as she carefully walked us through the various ways in which pouchees can act and exercises they can do to improve and preserve their pouch function through control and strengthening of their pelvic floor. As well, she provided information on creams and medical devices which are available to pouchees and which can help to alleviate some of the common pouch issues, from which many of us suffer to a greater or lesser extent. In a lively and extended Q&A session Ellie was able to answer both broad and very personal pouch-related topics as diverse as sex for pouchees, night time incontinence, butt creams, stool thickeners, anus and lower back pain, how to achieve full emptying, probiotics, pelvic floor exercises and investigations when the pouch is not functioning well. The recording of the event is available on our You Tube channel – add link This was a compassionate and comprehensive talk packed full of practical tips and suggestions and some humour along the way to emphasise the messages. Another brilliant event from Ellie, who is a long-term supporter of the RLG charity, having been delivering talks for us since 2006. We are indeed grateful for all her support and delighted to have her back at St Marks. Thank you to all the attendees for such a great series of questions.

David Davies – RLG chairman

Prof John Nicholls – 40 years of colorectal surgery

We are delighted to announce that we will be kicking off our webcast season for 2024 with a talk from Professor John Nicholls, considered to be the the father of the ileo anal pouch (J Pouch). The Red Lion Group will be repeating its popular webcast series in 2024, providing an opportunity for J Pouch patients to see and hear from the foremost experts in the field of J-pouch surgery and the challenges of living with a J-pouch. As in previous years, each talk will be followed by an interactive Q&A so a chance to put your questions to the experts. The first event this year will be on Tuesday 16th April at 7:30 pm (BST) and will feature the eminent colorectal surgeon Professor John Nicholls, who will need no introduction to many of you. Not only was he the co-inventor, with SIr Alan Parks, of the procedure for ileal-pouch anal anastomosis (IPAA), but he has been responsible for the creation of more pouches than anyone on the planet earning him the sobriquet “the pouch king“. Professor John Nicholls is a retired British colorectal surgeon, Emeritus Consultant Surgeon at St Mark’s Hospital London and Professor of Colorectal Surgery at Imperial College London. He is also a Patron of the Red Lion Group.

Uchu Meade – Pharmacy advice for pouch patients

Uchu Meade – Pharmacy advice for pouch patients

Uchu Meade, Lead Pharmacist at St. Mark’s Hospital, London, speaking on behalf of the Red Lion Pouch Support Group, recorded on 10th August 2023.

In this talk, Uchu Meade explains how the altered physiology in pouch patients affects the absorption of different medications and looks at the different medications that are most frequently prescribed to pouch patients in regard to the common challenges faced by people with a pouch.

Kapil Sahnan – Advances in Robotic surgery

St. Mark’s Hospital has been pioneering a research programme into the use of robot technology in colorectal surgery, financially backed by St Mark’s Hospital Foundation. In this talk, Jason Bacon (CEO of St. Mark’s Hospital Foundation) and Kapil Sahnan (Consultant Colorectal surgeon at St. Mark’s) will give an update on this fascinating project. Compares traditional open surgery with laparoscopic and robot assisted laparoscopic surgeries.

NB. The original webcast included a short video of “live” robotic surgery which has been removed for privacy reasons, but the talk and content does not lose anything as a result of this edit.

Recorded on behalf of the Red Lion Pouch Support Group on 11 July 2023.

Pouch Nurse team – Innovations in pouch support and…

St. Mark’s hospitals award winning pouch nurse team featuring pouch nurse specialists Petya Marinova and Rali Marinova who were talking about “New trends and Innovation in Pouch Care and Ongoing support’ followed by a Question & Answer interaction with an audience of people with a ileoanal pouch (j pouch) or considering pouch surgery.

Some of the subjects discussed in the Q&A included :-

• Dealing with blockages
• Pouch emptying issues
• Vitamin B12 deficiency
• “Butt burn”
• Dehydration
• Catheterisation and enemas
• Educating GPs and other health professionals about pouches

Some of the links mentioned in the Q & A are below :-

https://pouchsupport.org/are-you-getting-enough-hydration-how-to-make-st-marks-solution/

https://pouchsupport.org/contacting-the-pouch-team-at-st-marks-hospital/

https://pouchsupport.org/j-pouch-and-vitamin-b12-deficiency/

https://pouchsupport.org/ileoanal-pouch-report-2017

https://pouchsupport.org/medic