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I Almost Died

I am a 40 year old woman in BC, was healthy my entire life and last January a dentist prescribed a powerful anti-biotic to fight my infection, After taking just 2 pills I began passing blood through diahria and vomitting blood. I saw my Doctor and was given Nexium and it stopped quickly, I was okay.
In March I began getting labour pains, I new I wasn't pregnat so I thought I had food poisoning, I'd eaten a turkey sandwich at a restuarant so it was that, I decided.
For a couple of weeks I was fine, so I got a new job that I liked a lot and mid April began having violent pains at work, my husband picked me up at work one day and drove me to the hospital. There I had a CT scan and was referred to a GI, he then sent me for some other tests and told me I had Chrons or Cancer, I hated him. The worse part was his non chalant attitude and made me appointments that were months away. So I thought, how serious could this be if he's making me wait right?
The pain increased every day, I left my job, I couldn't even get in the car. I couldn't leave the house. Then I began throwing up everything I ate and couldn't even hold down a glass of water down. I lost 25 lbs in a few weeks.

In May and June I was house bound except for Doctor Visits and if I so much as walked for more then a few minutes at a time I got dizzy and all the while the pain was overwhelming, it was like being in steady labour for 3 months.
A month ago, July 5th 2011, I woke up vomitting diahria, this was the most disgusting and horrifying experience of my life, I would have killed myself if I didn't have a son and husband, my mother drove me to the hospital in her van because I couldn't get into our car, the doctors at the hospital gave me another CT scan and a surgeon told me he was cancelling his other surgeries because I was about to die soon, I was going to POP, my intestine was blocked and dialating at a dangerous size, I panicked I almost ran away, I was terrifed, surgery terrified me, that night they removed 7 or 9 inches of my lower intestine and the next day I was parylized in bed and given morphine, I needed it every 10 min the pain was so bad, I had lost 25 lbs and no muscle or body fat left, I couldn't even sit up on my own because I was as weak as a rag.
My husband stayed with me all night in the hospital some nights and my Mom did the other nights, they would help me get out of bed to go the bathroom, Put my slippers on for me, I couldn't reach anything. I had to make myself walk and every step hurt like I was climbing a mountian, LOL
A week later I was mobile again and ate and finally got to come home, I went to see my doctor and she explained that the biopsy showed Chrons disease, (they'd sent the peice they removed to the lab) The surgeon told me before the operation that if I'd waited for the last test scheduled July 27th I would have died before I got it, also the test itself, inserting gas and a camera into my gut would have blown up my intestine and killed me.
So now I have an appointment with a different GI doctor and for thew last 4 days, no pain no swelling in my feet, I feel normal again, haven't felt like this since March, it now August.
I don't know what to eat, I eat mashed potaoes and things like that, fish and chicken, canned vegetables because they're soft. I eat chese because it doesn;t seem to hurt, at leat not right now. I have 1 coffee every morning, I used to drink 4-6 cups everyday so I can't give it up completely.
I'm scared it happens again one day, I've heard that people have had surgery again, I don't want to do that again, I haven't had a glass of wine since April, I'm weating a patch and stopped smoking, I'm on anti-biotics, they said I'll need them for 3 months, but then what? Will it come back? Will it be okay?
I just don't know. Everytime I ask about diet I hear that its different for everyone, and I don't know if what I'm eating is bad because I'm taking anti-biotics right now so am I okay or is it the anti-biotics masking my reactions?
I have had diahria everyday since the surgery, every time I eat its a trip to the bathroom a few minutes later, whether I eat or not too, The scarey times are when I get constipated becase thers always this fear that the connection might break, okay maybe that's paranoia, but I'm scared, anyone else had the bowel resection and noit scared anymore? Please let me know. Is this feeling okay now going to last or am I kidding myself?
they said it was successful, and looked good the bowel that's left, could it have been only one area diseased and the rest healthy? Anyone been like that, okay now? Please give me any advice you have, I could use some from a Chrons patient, I've been talking to people that have never had Chrons so its hard to understand. They don't know what warning sign feels like.
This is all new for me, all I know is I was healthy one day and got hit with the worse illness just like that! Then I almost dies because my GI made me think I had so much time to wait in between tests, my husband cried that night, I never saw that before, I don't want to see that again.
 

xJillx

Your Story Forum Monitor
Hi and welcome! I am so sorry you have been through so much and in such a short amount of time.

I really feel for you and the fear you face each day. To be honest, I think we all face fear. I always fear I will flare before a major event or vacation; I fear long car rides and a possible accident. However, we just have to learn to put the fear aside and take it day by day. Otherwise, the fear and anxiety will only put us more at risk and will stop us from living our lives.

I have not had a bowel resection myself, but several people on the forum have and feel great now. Know one knows for sure what the future will bring, but as long as you take care of yourself, you can only hope your Crohn's will stay in check.

Are you taking any maintenance medication to prevent a future flare ups? Also, watching your diet like you've been doing is a good thing. Be careful with foods high in fiber, seeds, and nuts; these things are usually tough on the gut. But you may want to slowly introduce things back in your diet; you can't just eat chicken and mashed potatoes. Start to keep a food diary of what you eat and how you feel afterward. In time you'll figure out what is safe to eat and what you should avoid.
 
Hello there, and welcome to the forum - I am so glad you have found us here :) Your story had me glued to the computer screen. What a violent and dramatic introduction you had to the disease that is Crohn's. But I'm so glad to hear that the surgery has been successful.
I think it is totally natural to feel scared that things might flare up again. I think we all are. It is a chronic disease and you got thrown right in at the deep end, with no time to get your head round the fact that you have it. Having said that, with successful surgery and/or maintenance medication people here have achieved long remissions.
I haven't had surgery for Crohn's...........yet!............ but if you have a look over at the Diet and Fitness and also at the Surgery sub forums, you'll get some ideas on what to eat post surgery.
Hoping that your recovery continues to go well and that you'll let us know how you're doing.
 
I'm so sorry you've been through so much so quickly. I'm sure you have tons of tons of questions, and we're all here to help! Ask away, and we'll all chime in.
<3
 
Welcome! Nice but not nice to see another BC'ian here. There's a vast amount of information here that hopefully you will find useful!
 
Hi and welcome! I am so sorry you have been through so much and in such a short amount of time.

I really feel for you and the fear you face each day. To be honest, I think we all face fear. I always fear I will flare before a major event or vacation; I fear long car rides and a possible accident. However, we just have to learn to put the fear aside and take it day by day. Otherwise, the fear and anxiety will only put us more at risk and will stop us from living our lives.

I have not had a bowel resection myself, but several people on the forum have and feel great now. Know one knows for sure what the future will bring, but as long as you take care of yourself, you can only hope your Crohn's will stay in check.

Are you taking any maintenance medication to prevent a future flare ups? Also, watching your diet like you've been doing is a good thing. Be careful with foods high in fiber, seeds, and nuts; these things are usually tough on the gut. But you may want to slowly introduce things back in your diet; you can't just eat chicken and mashed potatoes. Start to keep a food diary of what you eat and how you feel afterward. In time you'll figure out what is safe to eat and what you should avoid.
Thank You - I am using a food diary. I can't believe how many people have this. I am only taking anti-biotics so far and probiotics, I also take vitamins. I guess the GI will prescribe something else too if I need it.
 
Welcome! Nice but not nice to see another BC'ian here. There's a vast amount of information here that hopefully you will find useful!
Thank you, woah, so much surgery just to feel normal.....It sucks that before this disease hits you, you don't realize how lucky you were then, to go out without wondering where the closest bathroom is, or if you can eat with friends, you know, something you've never eaten before, LOL
Always asking myself, Can I drink? Haven't tried it since being diagnosed, should I? hmmmm....maybe try it another day. So far the painless days are more important then finding out, I havent been in pain for a while now, I hope it lasts :) For you too, I hope you are finally pain free for a long time, like the rest of you life :) The only thing I liked in the hospital was the morphine, so I'm in no rush to get back there, I'm going to take care not to screw up again.
 
Hi welcome :)

It does take a while for BM to become a little easier on you. No one can give you an exact time frame because it is different for everyone. For the fear part I can definitely empathize with that. When I had my 3rd surgery I was so afraid of every bit of pain that I felt. I thought that I was leaking again at the connection site. I worried so much that I went to the ER a few times just to make sure. My doctor wanted me to because of all of the complications I had. He said better to be safe. It took a while for the fears to subside a lot. I still have difficulty with pain but I am not in a constant fear like in the begining. I have also had a blockage but it did not require surgery. With those you KNOW when something is just not right.
Talk to your doctor about maintenance meds to keep the crohns in Remission. It can help a lot.
 
Thank you Jennjenn
I'm sorry that you had so many complications and surgeries. That's not fair, when you go for tests and surgery that you have to you would think that that would be it, you're fine now.

There are so many of us with Chron's makes me wonder if its something in the environment doing this, My ex husband eats nothing but meat and cheese, junk food and bread and yet he's not suffering from this, my new husband, is careful about what he eats and he now has diabetes, I have always been almost vegan and I get Chron's? I excercise and everything so this can't be caused from poor diet, this doesn't run in my familly. LOL

I was stunned when I first got sick, I never got very sick before, my doctor says I have a high white blood count and my immune system attacked me. I took a strong anti-biotic last January to kill a tooth infection and it made my stomache bleed, then a couple months later this started.....
You never know when life is going to kick you in the teeth LOL
I hope you are feeling better now and stay that way permanently. :)
 
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