I've been having symptoms of Crohn's for nearly 20 years now, which is to say I've been having diarrhea for 20 years. I tried not to pay attention to it for the first few years, but then a doctor determined that I had IBS. So for many years after, I assumed that it was IBS, and it was just something I had to live with. About 3 years ago, I had a colonoscopy done, and this doctor informed me that I had mild Crohn's disease. Well, nothing was any different, so I just decided to live with it. Until this year.
Sometime in mid-January, I started noticing dull pains in my lower gut. These pains were new to me, so I was a bit concerned. Sometime in early April, I started noticing a bulge in my abdomen. It didn't hurt, but it was still a concern. I thought I might have a hernia. It wasn't til the end of April that I got it checked out. My doctor sent me for a CT scan the next morning. By the time I got to work the next day, the doctor was calling my work phone, and told me to go directly to the hospital as soon as possible. I didn't really believe him, since I actually felt fine, and thought he may have misread the pictures. After thinking about it for an hour, I decided not to take any chances, and checked into the emergency room. What I had was an intestinal abscess, which was leaking into my abdomen. I was admitted to the hospital, and spent 8 days there, with no food or water. A JP drain was inserted to drain the abscess. Additionally, they inserted a PICC line into my arm for feeding, so after I was discharged from the hospital, I could hook up TPN every night for 12 hours, in the hopes of medically treating the abscess while giving my bowels a break.
Eventually, it was determined that I needed surgery anyway. Last Wednesday, June 8th, I had the surgery. The doctor performed a ileocecectomy, and removal of the cecum. About 12 inches of the last part of the small intestine was removed. The surgery went well, and was apparently the only part of the digestive system that was diseased. The worst part of the surgery (other than having to drink that god-awful liquid the night before for cleansing) was the severe pain I had Sunday night from all the gas in my digestive system. It was almost unbearable. I started to take Gas-X and pain killers, and the Gas-X certainly helped. By Monday afternoon, the gas pain was pretty much gone, but now the soreness from the operation is apparent. It feels like my abdomen has been beaten by baseball bats, especially on the left side. It's not unbearable pain, more like a bad bruise. My bowel habits have been slowly coming back to life now that I'm able to eat most foods. Other than the pain meds, the only meds I take now is Pentasa, 3000 mg/day.
Does this pain sound about normal for this type of surgery? If so, what can I expect over the next few weeks? I've been off from work since late April, and not likely to go back until about mid-July. I'm just curious to know what lies ahead of me for the next month or so.
BTW, great website here! I wish I would have found this site years ago!
Sometime in mid-January, I started noticing dull pains in my lower gut. These pains were new to me, so I was a bit concerned. Sometime in early April, I started noticing a bulge in my abdomen. It didn't hurt, but it was still a concern. I thought I might have a hernia. It wasn't til the end of April that I got it checked out. My doctor sent me for a CT scan the next morning. By the time I got to work the next day, the doctor was calling my work phone, and told me to go directly to the hospital as soon as possible. I didn't really believe him, since I actually felt fine, and thought he may have misread the pictures. After thinking about it for an hour, I decided not to take any chances, and checked into the emergency room. What I had was an intestinal abscess, which was leaking into my abdomen. I was admitted to the hospital, and spent 8 days there, with no food or water. A JP drain was inserted to drain the abscess. Additionally, they inserted a PICC line into my arm for feeding, so after I was discharged from the hospital, I could hook up TPN every night for 12 hours, in the hopes of medically treating the abscess while giving my bowels a break.
Eventually, it was determined that I needed surgery anyway. Last Wednesday, June 8th, I had the surgery. The doctor performed a ileocecectomy, and removal of the cecum. About 12 inches of the last part of the small intestine was removed. The surgery went well, and was apparently the only part of the digestive system that was diseased. The worst part of the surgery (other than having to drink that god-awful liquid the night before for cleansing) was the severe pain I had Sunday night from all the gas in my digestive system. It was almost unbearable. I started to take Gas-X and pain killers, and the Gas-X certainly helped. By Monday afternoon, the gas pain was pretty much gone, but now the soreness from the operation is apparent. It feels like my abdomen has been beaten by baseball bats, especially on the left side. It's not unbearable pain, more like a bad bruise. My bowel habits have been slowly coming back to life now that I'm able to eat most foods. Other than the pain meds, the only meds I take now is Pentasa, 3000 mg/day.
Does this pain sound about normal for this type of surgery? If so, what can I expect over the next few weeks? I've been off from work since late April, and not likely to go back until about mid-July. I'm just curious to know what lies ahead of me for the next month or so.
BTW, great website here! I wish I would have found this site years ago!
