Hi all.
Last Thursday, (Oct. 03) I had a bit of pain in my lower right abdomen. Being a typical male, I let it slide figuring it would go away. It did. Friday I was best kind. Passed it off as some random gas/anomaly. Saturday however, it came back. I rested on the couch, and I found that if I lay down, the pain went away. In February, I had my first experience with kidney stones. (It runs in the family) I knew this wasn't a stone, because when I had the stone, the position of my body did not matter. It still hurt like a b@#ch. So I knew this was different. A friend recently had his appendix removed, so I figured that this may be what was happening. Sunday morning, Oct 06. Pain had me curious/worried, so I had my gf drive me to the hospital. Had an ultrasound, and she had a real hard time getting a good shot of my appendix because of gas. Nurses and doctors said that the symptoms that I had were pointing to appendicitis. Enter the surgeon! They admitted me to a room, and I was on the table under the knife at 7pm Sunday night. I was pretty nervous as I have never had anything like this done to me before! The rest of the night was pretty blurry, I remember waking in recovery, but I was loopy from the drugs, and then I remember my GF saying goodnight later on as she left the hospital. The next morning she came in and we chatted, and she asked me if I remembered anything. I didn't. She said my appendix was still inside.
Ummm....what!? Really? Wtf?!
Then she said that this could be Crohn's. I was a little shocked, obviously. Apparently where my small and large intestines meet, it was inflamed, and there was "creeping fat" (whatever that is!) and that's what the pain was from. There was no restriction however.
Surgeon came to talk to me, and told me about this stuff and that the GI would be in to see me. When he came, he told me that I have Crohn's disease, and then the nutritionist was in to talk to me about my low residue diet. I was on fluids for a week and I was worried I wouldn't get my Thanksgiving Turkey!! (I did =D)
I have to have a small bowel CT, as well as colonoscopy, and biopsy. I understand that someone cant really give a diagnosis without these tests, but the GI is a 35 year vet at this, so I am going to trust his opinion. He's the doc, not me.
Now I'm on a bunch of meds: Antibiotics from surgery, Prednisone, Imuran, Folic Acid, Vitamin D and others I cant really remember. All of the drugs are on a cycle downward until they are gone, except for the Imuran, which increases by one tablet weekly, and I dont know when it ends (I think i have like 18 re-fills :S)
Strange thing for me to wrap my head around is that I never have b/m 'emergencies', my stool is usually formed, and I am pretty regular. I never feel sick, vomit, nauseated or any symptoms really....so i'm also a little confused. Hopefully the tests will prove more firm results.
Anyway -- I read a bunch of posts on this forum over the past week, and it really helped. You guys are pretty awesome and supportive toward each other. Its good to know. Looks like I may be here for a while, so I thought I'd share my story.
Thanks for reading this, and look forward to connecting with you.
Cheers:wine:
Last Thursday, (Oct. 03) I had a bit of pain in my lower right abdomen. Being a typical male, I let it slide figuring it would go away. It did. Friday I was best kind. Passed it off as some random gas/anomaly. Saturday however, it came back. I rested on the couch, and I found that if I lay down, the pain went away. In February, I had my first experience with kidney stones. (It runs in the family) I knew this wasn't a stone, because when I had the stone, the position of my body did not matter. It still hurt like a b@#ch. So I knew this was different. A friend recently had his appendix removed, so I figured that this may be what was happening. Sunday morning, Oct 06. Pain had me curious/worried, so I had my gf drive me to the hospital. Had an ultrasound, and she had a real hard time getting a good shot of my appendix because of gas. Nurses and doctors said that the symptoms that I had were pointing to appendicitis. Enter the surgeon! They admitted me to a room, and I was on the table under the knife at 7pm Sunday night. I was pretty nervous as I have never had anything like this done to me before! The rest of the night was pretty blurry, I remember waking in recovery, but I was loopy from the drugs, and then I remember my GF saying goodnight later on as she left the hospital. The next morning she came in and we chatted, and she asked me if I remembered anything. I didn't. She said my appendix was still inside.
Ummm....what!? Really? Wtf?!
Then she said that this could be Crohn's. I was a little shocked, obviously. Apparently where my small and large intestines meet, it was inflamed, and there was "creeping fat" (whatever that is!) and that's what the pain was from. There was no restriction however.
Surgeon came to talk to me, and told me about this stuff and that the GI would be in to see me. When he came, he told me that I have Crohn's disease, and then the nutritionist was in to talk to me about my low residue diet. I was on fluids for a week and I was worried I wouldn't get my Thanksgiving Turkey!! (I did =D)
I have to have a small bowel CT, as well as colonoscopy, and biopsy. I understand that someone cant really give a diagnosis without these tests, but the GI is a 35 year vet at this, so I am going to trust his opinion. He's the doc, not me.
Now I'm on a bunch of meds: Antibiotics from surgery, Prednisone, Imuran, Folic Acid, Vitamin D and others I cant really remember. All of the drugs are on a cycle downward until they are gone, except for the Imuran, which increases by one tablet weekly, and I dont know when it ends (I think i have like 18 re-fills :S)
Strange thing for me to wrap my head around is that I never have b/m 'emergencies', my stool is usually formed, and I am pretty regular. I never feel sick, vomit, nauseated or any symptoms really....so i'm also a little confused. Hopefully the tests will prove more firm results.
Anyway -- I read a bunch of posts on this forum over the past week, and it really helped. You guys are pretty awesome and supportive toward each other. Its good to know. Looks like I may be here for a while, so I thought I'd share my story.
Thanks for reading this, and look forward to connecting with you.
Cheers:wine:
