My experience may only be of partial relevance to you - almost seven years ago I underwent a total colectomy (ileorectal anastomosis) for torrential diverticular bleeding. In response to another Medhelp patient's question, I shared my experiences on:-
http://www.medhelp.org/posts/show/523166
You may want to print this off and show it to your surgeon and ask for his/her comments bearing in mind that there may well be significant differences between your ileoanal anastomosis and my ileorectal anastomosis.
In addition I would suggest that you engage a specialist gastrointestinal surgeon rather than a general surgeon - i.e. someone who performs total colectomies all day/every day at a specialist G.I. hospital department rather than a surgeon who also turns their hand to ingrowing toenails, hernias etc etc and has less experience in total colectomy surgery.
Do come back if you have any questions.
regards
Morecambe