Is there any other option over surgery??

[butafli]

Hi,
I have surgery booked for the 4th of April to remove 40 cm of my small bowel and my ileocecal valve. This is my first operation for crohns and I'm starting to wonder if there is any other way to "fix" me. I was diagnosed on 2005 but other than a bowel blockage in early 2006 i have been pretty good. I was on azathioprine but took myself off that to have a couple of children and since then I have been managing it with just Pentasa. Until October last year when I started feeling really really nauseous all the time and wake every morning at 3am feeling very sore and crampy with a WHOLE lot of gurgling all the time. I put myself onto Prednisone in December and have since had a colonoscopy, gastroscopy, and an MRI for a small bowel study. From this the specialist has said I have 40 cm of small bowel that needs to be removed as it is now extrememly strictured and fibroid. Also a very narrowed ileocecal valve. So I met the surgeon who, without looking at the MRI, said I definitely needed the op and he will attempt strictureplasty as long as I dont have any fistulas. I came away thinking it would have been nice if he had actually bothered to look at my results personally. Anyway!!, does anyone out there know if there is anyway I can reverse the damage to my bowel by medication or do strictures need to be removed??? I am currently on 20mg of pred and am trying to taper for surgery but I am starting to feel pretty crook again and am scared about the next 5mg drop in a couple of days. I think I'll go onto my meal replacements until surgery. So does anyone have any ideas or advice or experiences they can share with me? I'm feeling pretty overwhelmed I think.
Thanks.

 

[hainman]

hiya.i know how you feel.i was fairly ill when i ended up needing surgery and as you say spoke to the surgeon and i was in for 5 whole minutes and he opened his schedule book and said "ok i can do it then"no looking over any files or scans but what you have to remember is you were sent to see him by the specialist who recomended you have surgery so he knows its needed.he will by now have seen your scans and knows what he has to remove in theatre.i was due to have keyhole surgery but when they went in so to speak there was more infection than 1st seen and they decided to open me up and remove 2 diff sections plus part of my colon and appendix.i had fistula that had joined my bowel to my bladder and i had to let that heal on its own before i left hospital.i know you have reservations but your in very safe hands.theses guys do this stuff every day.my infected bowel would actualy stick out of my stomach when imflamed and cause me so much pain but after surgery it stopped.hope my input has helped you in some way.