My husband was diagnosed with chronic Crohns in Sept 2010. Dr is suggesting a resection. I have heard that this should be a last resort. He is only on Pentasa at the moment. Dr told him since it is chronic, Prednisone would do no good. What do you all think? Right now his symptoms are D, gas, nauseous, around 5 BM's per day, gut pain. I am at my wits end with this.
Crohn's resection
- Thread starter Spooky
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I think maybe your doctor hasn't treated a lot of Crohn's patients? Mine said that they only do resections in emergencies and when there is no other choice. He is faculty at EVMS - a well-known medical school near me.
I had an emergency resection - the surgeon said he refuses Crohn's cases unless it is an emergency, because of all the complications.
I had an emergency resection - the surgeon said he refuses Crohn's cases unless it is an emergency, because of all the complications.
He had an obstruction back in Aug 2010, landed in the hosp, at that time was diagnosed with Giardia. The next week of two he had his first colonoscopy and Crohns was found. Now, 6 months later he is able to control the D and pain with over the counter Imodium AD. So since he has much of the pain and D under control I would think surgery would not be needed. He is going to have his second SBHT next week.
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Hi Spooky,
Welcome to the forum. I'm no doc, but I never heard of Pred not helping Chronic Crohn's. I also never heard of that diagnosis. I've had Crohn's for over 20 years without remission, so mine is certainly Chronic, but mine was never called that.
Anyway, like very many here, I've been off and on Pred many times over the years, usually when things where at their worst and I was ready to drop. It always worked for me and got me through the worst of a bad flare.
Most people seem to try the stronger drugs before resorting to surgery. Remicade or Humira, or 6MP. Also, it might be worth traveling to a large city to see a specialist.
Welcome to the forum. I'm no doc, but I never heard of Pred not helping Chronic Crohn's. I also never heard of that diagnosis. I've had Crohn's for over 20 years without remission, so mine is certainly Chronic, but mine was never called that.
Anyway, like very many here, I've been off and on Pred many times over the years, usually when things where at their worst and I was ready to drop. It always worked for me and got me through the worst of a bad flare.
Most people seem to try the stronger drugs before resorting to surgery. Remicade or Humira, or 6MP. Also, it might be worth traveling to a large city to see a specialist.
My Hubby had a small bowel follow through today and the doc said there is a foot long portion of small intestine on his right side that is restricted. If we dont do surgery what are some of the drugs that might be used? Remicade and Humira are injections right? How is 6MP given? I really do appreciated any advice anyone can give me.
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Remicade is by infusion, you have to go to a clinic and get an IV. But, it's just every 6 weeks I believe (someone correct me...)
Humira is by self injection, usually every 2 weeks, but some are on weekly. You start with 4 shots, then 2 shots two weeks later, then go on just 1 shot at a time.
6MP is by pill, but it is still a very strong medicine. Is is also used to treat leukemia, so you know it's serious stuff.
A foot long section that is restricted sounds like a lot. Sometimes things are just "too far gone" for meds to help. Anyway, that is what I believe. I hope your husband can avoid surgery, but it just might be the answer for him.
I'm finally symptom free and in deep remission after my last surgery.
Humira is by self injection, usually every 2 weeks, but some are on weekly. You start with 4 shots, then 2 shots two weeks later, then go on just 1 shot at a time.
6MP is by pill, but it is still a very strong medicine. Is is also used to treat leukemia, so you know it's serious stuff.
A foot long section that is restricted sounds like a lot. Sometimes things are just "too far gone" for meds to help. Anyway, that is what I believe. I hope your husband can avoid surgery, but it just might be the answer for him.
I'm finally symptom free and in deep remission after my last surgery.
ameslouise
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Hi Spooky - I agree with Joe - a foot long section seems like a lot and if it is already restricted, the meds can't reverse the scarring that is causing the restriction. The resection will help him feel loads better, and after that, he can get on a maintenance med to keep from further flare ups.
Good luck!
- Amy
Good luck!
- Amy
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All I know is I waited. The chrons should be treated to the point where it not in a flair. Chances it could spread is the X. But on the other hand It will fix the problem. Mine was an emergency and it didn't spread. I feel for him and he will be fine. Get the best specialist and if necessary another GI doctors opinion.
I know that it is very hard, but you must not give up! You have to always keep fighting because ignoring it or not trying to control it will only make it worse. You need to stay on top of your doctor and make sure he or she knows meds arn't working. There are so many others that can be tried before surgery. Keep your head up, and good luck!
Now docs are thinking he does not have active Crohns, as his blood tests are coming back normal like his sed rate, but he does have this foot long restriction that needs to come out. They are thinking it was not caused by the Crohns at all but the Giardia or? They are just not sure. They said there is no medication that would take care of it. Now I am thinking he has had Crohns for a while and it has just laid dormant and they just happened to find out he had it while he was in the hosp with this problem area of his small intestine, when he had a colonoscopy. Any ideas?
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Any news? Just for reference - my blood tests for all this stuff come back "in the normal range." I think that's one reason it takes so long to diagnose Crohn's, and one reason doctors will back off of that diagnosis so quickly.
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Same here Spooky....
wow..this sounds sooo familiar to me. My doctor has also mentioned a bowel resection to me because a large section of my bowel is diseased. My blood work comes back normal. I haven't been on any drugs at all for Crohn's. He thinks I have Crohn's but isn't 100 per cent. He wants to put me on prednisone but doesn't want to because it is so strong a drug with a lot of nasty side effects....
I dont have any answers for you but to keep pushing them for answers (easier said than done..I know...) and to do what you are doing - reaching out to others.
Please keep us posted about how things are going.... frustrating ...
Wendy
wow..this sounds sooo familiar to me. My doctor has also mentioned a bowel resection to me because a large section of my bowel is diseased. My blood work comes back normal. I haven't been on any drugs at all for Crohn's. He thinks I have Crohn's but isn't 100 per cent. He wants to put me on prednisone but doesn't want to because it is so strong a drug with a lot of nasty side effects....
I dont have any answers for you but to keep pushing them for answers (easier said than done..I know...) and to do what you are doing - reaching out to others.
Please keep us posted about how things are going.... frustrating ...
Wendy
Spooky,
I am an internal medicine doctor with a spouse who has Crohn's. While some Crohn's patients do have surgeries to repair fistulas and strictures, normally the surgery is not curative of Crohn's itself. I believe you need to find a Crohn's specialist.
Steroids can help in the short term. If you husband's blood pressure sores, there are anti-hypertensives he can try to keep that in check. There is also chemotherapy (like 6-MP) and biologics (like Remicade and Humira).
While surgery can be curative for ulcerative colitis...it is normally not curative in Crohn's disease. Please consider surgery a last option.
Dr. S
I am an internal medicine doctor with a spouse who has Crohn's. While some Crohn's patients do have surgeries to repair fistulas and strictures, normally the surgery is not curative of Crohn's itself. I believe you need to find a Crohn's specialist.
Steroids can help in the short term. If you husband's blood pressure sores, there are anti-hypertensives he can try to keep that in check. There is also chemotherapy (like 6-MP) and biologics (like Remicade and Humira).
While surgery can be curative for ulcerative colitis...it is normally not curative in Crohn's disease. Please consider surgery a last option.
Dr. S
Hi Spooky,
I too have been told I need surgery, which I am going in for in 4 days!!! I have 40 cm of small bowel that is very restricted and now fibroid. So I have been told I need surgery as there are no meds that get rid of strictures to this degree. He is also taking out my IC valve as this is narrowed also. I am very nervous about it and keep thinking that I may be doing the wrong thing................. god, I hope not. I have 3 kids under 5 and everything is about them and me being healthy. The advice is that I'm going to be a whole lot better after surgery when I have a healthy bowel again.
I was diagnosed in 2005 and have been in hospital with an obstruction in 2006, but then remained in relatively good health until Sept last year. I had a small bowel study done back in 2006 and they found 40cm of diseased bowel then. I also had an MRI for a small bowel study 2 months ago and they found the same 40cm had got a lot worse. But the good news is that it wasn't anymore than 40cm!!! Sooooooo I guess I have to go with what the specialist and surgeon are telling me. I did ask them if I could get away withut doing it and my gastro said I could but would struglle, be in and out of hospital, not be able to eat very good foods, and be generally unwell until surgery.
My bloods over the past 6 months have been getting progressively worse with my CRP quite high, my haemaglobin really low, my Iron practically 0 and my liver proteins very low also. SO I guess the proof is in the pudding. I also have not been able to eat veges or fruit that would not turn mushy and can not have anything with bubbles to drink - along with a load of other restricted foods.
So I really hope surgery on Monday is going to work for me. I have a fistula also somewhere along this 40cm but if I didn't the surgeon was going to do stricturplasty. You should ask your specialist if he could do that on your husband instead of remove it as it preserves the bowel.
Good luck with the directions you go, let me know how it goes.
I too have been told I need surgery, which I am going in for in 4 days!!! I have 40 cm of small bowel that is very restricted and now fibroid. So I have been told I need surgery as there are no meds that get rid of strictures to this degree. He is also taking out my IC valve as this is narrowed also. I am very nervous about it and keep thinking that I may be doing the wrong thing................. god, I hope not. I have 3 kids under 5 and everything is about them and me being healthy. The advice is that I'm going to be a whole lot better after surgery when I have a healthy bowel again.
I was diagnosed in 2005 and have been in hospital with an obstruction in 2006, but then remained in relatively good health until Sept last year. I had a small bowel study done back in 2006 and they found 40cm of diseased bowel then. I also had an MRI for a small bowel study 2 months ago and they found the same 40cm had got a lot worse. But the good news is that it wasn't anymore than 40cm!!! Sooooooo I guess I have to go with what the specialist and surgeon are telling me. I did ask them if I could get away withut doing it and my gastro said I could but would struglle, be in and out of hospital, not be able to eat very good foods, and be generally unwell until surgery.
My bloods over the past 6 months have been getting progressively worse with my CRP quite high, my haemaglobin really low, my Iron practically 0 and my liver proteins very low also. SO I guess the proof is in the pudding. I also have not been able to eat veges or fruit that would not turn mushy and can not have anything with bubbles to drink - along with a load of other restricted foods.
So I really hope surgery on Monday is going to work for me. I have a fistula also somewhere along this 40cm but if I didn't the surgeon was going to do stricturplasty. You should ask your specialist if he could do that on your husband instead of remove it as it preserves the bowel.
Good luck with the directions you go, let me know how it goes.
Well, my hubby had his small bowel resection on 4/20/11, they took out about 10 inches, of highly restricted bowel. He was in the hospital 8 days, and is home recovering. They were able to do it laproscopically, so he has suffered with gas pains pretty bad. He has had good days and bad, up to 9 BM's a day, 2 on the good days. some D, but things are looking up with some firm ones now and then. He has been on the pain drug Dilauded as the Morphine they had him on in the hosp got to where it didnt help the pain much. Now 3 weeks out he has been having night sweats, that we hear is due to the anesthesia working out of his system. He has very little energy, so we have made an appointment to see a nutritionist to see if there is any kind of special diet he should be on. We are kind of new to all this Crohns business, and need help with his diet. I am kind of thinking he may be lactose intolerant. Any comments on all this is highly appreciated.
Hi,
It's really logical to think he could be lactose intolerant because I know my BM's are chronic once I've had icecreamor similar. But not always. I put it all down to crohns though.
Great to hear your husband is on the mend. I had my resection on the 18th April so we are pretty much going down the same track. They ended up taking out 15cm of small bowel, 15cm of large bowel, my appendix, my IC valve, and did strictureplasty on another 25cm of small bowel. Oh and they removed a fistula attached from my large bowel to my small bowel. I too had it done laparoscopically and was in the hospital 5 days. The day of surgery is completely lost to me and apart from a UTI I am feeling better than pre surgery.
Like your Hubby my BM's were horrific and ended up being bile and blistering. It was awful but I am through that now and am back to pretty normal BMs. YAY!!! I am truly amazed and what I put up with for so long now that I am on the other side. But I am still forever nervous about what I'm eating and am anxious about when the pain will start up again. The surgeon has advised to stay away form celery and similar stringy foods. To only have iceburg lettuce, not the rocket or other fancier types. I have personally noticed that I feel like I get quite colicky in my bowels now which gives me severe cramps. Maybe its the brocolli I have been hoovering.
Is he taking an Iron supplement? Or a whole foods Supplement. I am taking a yeast based whole food supplement and find it quite good. Ask at your natural health stores.
I have not been back to my specialist yet, thats on the 25th and he has already told me that he will be putting me on Azathioprine (I think there is another name for it a lot of people use on here) as a remission drug. It is an immunosuppressent. Have you been told about any drugs he should be on. I too am on 4000mg on Pentasa and am now tapering off prednisone. He wanted to put me on 3 months of Flagyl which apparantly can prevent crohns coming back in the short term but I have bad reactions to that so I chose not to. I will talk to the specialist about that again though as I now am realising how serious this "crohns" business is. And to keep it at bay would be golden.
I hope your husband gets better day by day and please tell him I'm thinking of him. It's no fun.
x
It's really logical to think he could be lactose intolerant because I know my BM's are chronic once I've had icecreamor similar. But not always. I put it all down to crohns though.
Great to hear your husband is on the mend. I had my resection on the 18th April so we are pretty much going down the same track. They ended up taking out 15cm of small bowel, 15cm of large bowel, my appendix, my IC valve, and did strictureplasty on another 25cm of small bowel. Oh and they removed a fistula attached from my large bowel to my small bowel. I too had it done laparoscopically and was in the hospital 5 days. The day of surgery is completely lost to me and apart from a UTI I am feeling better than pre surgery.
Like your Hubby my BM's were horrific and ended up being bile and blistering. It was awful but I am through that now and am back to pretty normal BMs. YAY!!! I am truly amazed and what I put up with for so long now that I am on the other side. But I am still forever nervous about what I'm eating and am anxious about when the pain will start up again. The surgeon has advised to stay away form celery and similar stringy foods. To only have iceburg lettuce, not the rocket or other fancier types. I have personally noticed that I feel like I get quite colicky in my bowels now which gives me severe cramps. Maybe its the brocolli I have been hoovering.
Is he taking an Iron supplement? Or a whole foods Supplement. I am taking a yeast based whole food supplement and find it quite good. Ask at your natural health stores.
I have not been back to my specialist yet, thats on the 25th and he has already told me that he will be putting me on Azathioprine (I think there is another name for it a lot of people use on here) as a remission drug. It is an immunosuppressent. Have you been told about any drugs he should be on. I too am on 4000mg on Pentasa and am now tapering off prednisone. He wanted to put me on 3 months of Flagyl which apparantly can prevent crohns coming back in the short term but I have bad reactions to that so I chose not to. I will talk to the specialist about that again though as I now am realising how serious this "crohns" business is. And to keep it at bay would be golden.
I hope your husband gets better day by day and please tell him I'm thinking of him. It's no fun.
x
He also had his IC valve removed. He is having problems sleeping through the night, so takes naps every day. Just not much energy, I think he is rather depressed about the whole Crohns thing...understandable. He just feels like his bowels have not settled down. But then right now he is eating a candy bar so...... and still eats dairy. I am so looking forward to him seeing the dietician, I hope he listens to her because he does not listen to me. He is on his Pentasa still. We go see his surgeon and gastro doc 5/17, and will let you know what we find out.
Hang in there!
What have you been eating to where your BM's are getting normal? Do you add any fiber at all. to firm things up? Are you totally off dairy foods? My Hubby had fried chicken one day and had 9 BM's afterwords.The diet part of this is so frustrating....
Hang in there!
What have you been eating to where your BM's are getting normal? Do you add any fiber at all. to firm things up? Are you totally off dairy foods? My Hubby had fried chicken one day and had 9 BM's afterwords.The diet part of this is so frustrating....
Hi Spooky, I feel sorry for you hubby, I am 56 year old man and I have been operated on three times, twice for resections, the first in 1995 they removed 45cm of ilieum and also the sigmoid after a fistula burst, the second in 2010 when I had a major blockage and a further 20cm of the ilieum removed. Also in 2002 I had an adhesions after blocking up severely and was operated on as if the crohns had flared again.
Tell you hubby to hang in there as will take months for him to come good, each time I was out of action for over 3 months and still had to take it easy for another 3 months after I was starting to get about. Since my first op, I have had continually loose bowels and on occasions it has been irregular times that I have needed to go. I have accepted this as normal now and have learned to live with it ok.
Each time I have asked my Dr's about my diet and the same reply comes each time that I should eat what I like and if something affects me to stop eating it, so far this has worked for me and I still get about and enjoy my foods and not afraid to try different things. The gas situation I am told is something that all crohns sufferers go through.
Hope this helps. Good luck with it all.
Rgds Mike
Prev History:
Diagnosed with Crohns mid 1980's
Prev Med's : prednisone for abt 8years off and on- (bone density weakened and broke hip due to prednisone)
1995 - Bowel resection after fistula burst- illieum and sigmoid removed.
2002- Bowel adhesion - major blockage and operated as if crohns returned.
2010- Bowel resection -major blockage and 20 cm(8 in) removed.
2011- Colonscopy - further crohns detected
2011 - Prescribed Imuran - suffered severe reaction and hospitalised for 2 wks in delirious state and got blood clots in lungs.
May 2011- Started Humira Pen injection 13 May. so far so good.
Tell you hubby to hang in there as will take months for him to come good, each time I was out of action for over 3 months and still had to take it easy for another 3 months after I was starting to get about. Since my first op, I have had continually loose bowels and on occasions it has been irregular times that I have needed to go. I have accepted this as normal now and have learned to live with it ok.
Each time I have asked my Dr's about my diet and the same reply comes each time that I should eat what I like and if something affects me to stop eating it, so far this has worked for me and I still get about and enjoy my foods and not afraid to try different things. The gas situation I am told is something that all crohns sufferers go through.
Hope this helps. Good luck with it all.
Rgds Mike
Prev History:
Diagnosed with Crohns mid 1980's
Prev Med's : prednisone for abt 8years off and on- (bone density weakened and broke hip due to prednisone)
1995 - Bowel resection after fistula burst- illieum and sigmoid removed.
2002- Bowel adhesion - major blockage and operated as if crohns returned.
2010- Bowel resection -major blockage and 20 cm(8 in) removed.
2011- Colonscopy - further crohns detected
2011 - Prescribed Imuran - suffered severe reaction and hospitalised for 2 wks in delirious state and got blood clots in lungs.
May 2011- Started Humira Pen injection 13 May. so far so good.
Hi Spooky I'm sorry to hear that your husband required the surgery. I had the same surgery 6 months ago as I too had 1ft of damaged small intestine at the terminal Ilium. I was only diagnosed with crohn's last May, ended up with a resection in Nov as the steroids were'nt going to fix the damaged bowel. I feel great now off all meds and energy levels are normal. I have to be careful with certain foods as they can upset things but all in all it was the best decision. It took me about 5 weeks to recover fully. I hope that your husband will also feel good very soon.
Archie, So glad you are doing so well! Did you have your IC Valve taken out too? My hubby is having a very hard time with diarrhea right now...had oatmeal with raisins with soy milk and had 5 bouts of it! I think once he gets his diet corrected he will be better. My question is this...usually with Crohns you do not eat fiber, but now I am thinking it would be a good idea since he no longer has his stricture, and such bad diarrhea.
Hi Spooky yes I had the valve taken out and it took a week after my surgery for my bowels to work, they wouldn't discharge me from hospital until they did!!! I wasn't allowed to eat fruit or veg for 6 weeks then slowly introduce them into the diet, I now can pretty much eat any fruit or veg I just have to be careful with fresh pasta as it gives me wild cramps and spicy food also upsets things. If anything the bowels are a bit sluggish. I can become quite constipated and therefore really bloated then need to go all of a sudden and feel much better a bit like IBS now which I never had before. In general though things are back to normal but I can get very painful cramps just before need to go (short lived) but i've got used to that now, and when I need to go I wouldn't like to be too far away from a loo... Your husband is still in the early days of recovery so it will be a bit up and down until the bowel retrains itself to do the job of the bit taken out. He'll soon learn what he can and can't eat. I was advised not too eat oats / porriage / hobnobs etc also to begin with as they can give you diarrhea. Hope he feels better very soon
Hi Spooky
So sorry to hear your husband had to have surgery, but if you have narrowing from scarring there really is no other option. I've had to have a number of resections for that very reason and always feel much better afterwards, once I've recovered from the surgery. It can take a while. I have a n ileostomy and only have a small bowel but still have active crohn's and have had my IC valve removed. I suffer from a lot of wind and can't eat things like oatmeal, bran or rice although I tolerate brown bread and manage to eat lots of fruit and some veg. I blend myself up a smoothie every day with fruit and yoghurt to get all my vitamins and it digests well. You said your husband lacked energy. How are his iron and B12 stores? I get a B12 injection every 12 weeks and always feel tired when it is due. Can't tolerate iron tablets, but I take a supplement which is available in the UK called Spatone which is a natural iron supplement which I've found to be a miracle (and gentle) cure to my iron deficiency.
Good luck!
xJulie
So sorry to hear your husband had to have surgery, but if you have narrowing from scarring there really is no other option. I've had to have a number of resections for that very reason and always feel much better afterwards, once I've recovered from the surgery. It can take a while. I have a n ileostomy and only have a small bowel but still have active crohn's and have had my IC valve removed. I suffer from a lot of wind and can't eat things like oatmeal, bran or rice although I tolerate brown bread and manage to eat lots of fruit and some veg. I blend myself up a smoothie every day with fruit and yoghurt to get all my vitamins and it digests well. You said your husband lacked energy. How are his iron and B12 stores? I get a B12 injection every 12 weeks and always feel tired when it is due. Can't tolerate iron tablets, but I take a supplement which is available in the UK called Spatone which is a natural iron supplement which I've found to be a miracle (and gentle) cure to my iron deficiency.
Good luck!
xJulie
Well it has now been 2 months since my hubby's resection, it was a SLOW healing process and just now he is feeling so much better. We found out that some of his gas and pain problems were from a thrush, yeast type problem from all the antibiotics he had been given, so he has been taking these lozenges that have helped that. He has greatly improved since he has given up dairy, and high fat foods! He has also found that adding Benifiber has really cut back the debilitating D that he had all the time. He has also been taking a lot of local raw unfiltered honey that he swears has been very beneficial to his digestion. He takes probiotics, vit B, vit D, iron, folic acid and a multi vit, and still is on the Pentasa, which all along I have wondered if it helps at all. He has 1 or 2 solid BM's a day now, no pain, and is getting his energy back. Some of his BM's come out kind of yellow still, but I think with time his remaining portion of his terminal illium will absorb those bile salts just fine. We have found that his GI doctor is worthless when it comes to advising about diet, and most everything else! When he started seeing a dietician that was the turn around point, she has helped him more than his GI doc and his primary doc combined! All they know is drugs and I really do think much healing can be accomplished with what we eat. I hope his pain free days will last for the rest of his days!!
It has been 5 months now since hubby's resection and he can now eat just about anything, even nuts, and corn! He does try to limit a lot of fat and tries to eat lots of small meals throughout the day. He still takes his Pentasa, and the Questran is a must, he takes about 1 and 1/4 packs per day, and it has been a life saver! He very rarely has the dreaded D anymore. So I believe for him the resection was the right thing to do, we just keep our fingers crossed that he continues to do well.
Pentasa
I have a great doctor and I really trust her, and she says Pentasa doesn't help and she took me off it years ago. For 7 years all I took was Immuran and that
controlled my symptoms. Last year I had a flare so I started taking Humira with the Immuran.
I have a great doctor and I really trust her, and she says Pentasa doesn't help and she took me off it years ago. For 7 years all I took was Immuran and that
controlled my symptoms. Last year I had a flare so I started taking Humira with the Immuran.
I'm hearing you there. Ive had a rough month or so too. I'm not sure what is going on at the moment. The pain in my side isn't really an issue but I have really bad diarrhea and I don't know whats going on. I've had it for about 5 weeks now. It's driving me insane.
Whats going on in your household then? I hope it's not too serious and maybe a change in meds may help. What meds is he on now?
Whats going on in your household then? I hope it's not too serious and maybe a change in meds may help. What meds is he on now?
What symptoms / pain is he having? I had some pain recently but got it checked and colonoscopy revealed mild inflammation and a few ulcers at resection site but no active crohns on biopsy and ultrasound bloods etc were normal so the surgeon thought it was maybe just scar tissue grumbling a bit. I hope he's ok, what medication is he on? He might need another colonoscopy
I was diagnosed with CD in July 2011 and out on Remicade. Continued having bouts of blockage, and no signs that my fistula was healing so I traveled to a reputable Digestive Disease center. Since my stricture was fibrous scar tissue a resection was carried out on Nov 17.
I also found it hard to wrap my head around major abdominal surgery so quickly after diagnosis, but emergency surgery scared me even more. I live in Hawaii where there is very little Crohn's so I traveled for my surgery.
My surgery was open due to the location of the fistula and also allowed the doctor to hand inspect my entire bowel. I was discharged today.
I also found it hard to wrap my head around major abdominal surgery so quickly after diagnosis, but emergency surgery scared me even more. I live in Hawaii where there is very little Crohn's so I traveled for my surgery.
My surgery was open due to the location of the fistula and also allowed the doctor to hand inspect my entire bowel. I was discharged today.
