Hi all - I am a freelance writer with UC who is working on an article about when to make the decision to have a colectomy. If anyone here who has had one would be willing to be interviewed about this journey, please comment!

(also, if you want to check me out, here's my online portfolio: jennmorson.contently.com)

OP, you may have more luck on the Facebook UC forum - that group has a fair amount of dialogue about people opting for surgery, and there seem to be quite a few who are skipping the j-pouch and going for the permanent ostomy. In the comments I see a lot of back and forth about bad experiences with j-pouches and people saying "I don't want to mess around with that."