Hi everyone. I am overthinking life (as usual) lately and needed to see if anyone could relate... or help me figure out how to perseverate about something else! (Sorry, this is long - warning in advance...!)
I was diagnosed with small bowel Crohn's (failure to thrive/growth delay, but otherwise "healthy") in the 80's, got on asacol and pm NG feeds for 3 or 4 years therafter, and was then fine until the late 90's when I got very ill in college. I got stuck on prednisone 60mg/day for 4-6 months, and finally got off the asacol and on infliximab about a month before my first resection. Worked great, only lost 6" of TI, and 10 strictureplasties. Started 2mg/kg azathioprine prior to surgery, have been taking it ever since, doing great. No symptoms on a daily basis, just some abdominal pain if I eat corn/lettuce/etc. (Also, no further infliximab b/c I was doing so well...it was literally brand new and so no one really knew the requirement for continued dosing...)
Fast forward to mid-2000's; I get sick in the middle of medical school, upper GI shows a nice big stricture and a few little ones. Resection #2 and 3 strictureplasties later, and I'm off to sit for exams the next week. Sucks, but I admit that I was kind-of in pain for a while, but now I'm feeling really great.
And this brings me to about a month ago. I'm in the hospital (working overnight) and get this horrible, persistent abdominal pain. My good friend sees me, convinces me that I'm a moron for sitting around in this much pain, and walks me to the ER. Long story short, after about 3 hours, several doses of dilaudid, and that god-awful berry-tasting volumen or omnipaque or whatever pre-CT, I get a visit from the general surgery resident who informs me that I'm being admitted for a high-grade jejunal obstruction. I put in my own NG tube, and start the barrage of texts to my best friend (who thankfully is also a surgery resident and, being on call, is awake and alert at 04:00!)
So, after really having no recent symptoms at all, I'm now on daily budesonide, in the loading phase of Cimzia (apparently since this all happened while on azathioprine, I need something stronger), and on the OR schedule in early June.
The real issue is that, as best as I try, I cannot stop thinking about having surgery again. It will be #3, so why am I so stressed? I think it's because I have SO much advance notice... my mind seems to keep drifting back to it.
So, what would you suggest? I am trying my best to keep busy with all sorts of other things (and when I do happen to start thinking about it, I try to be productive, like thinking about what books I should put on my Kindle pre-op, or thinking about which track pants might be most comfortable for the post-op walking...)
Sorry for the long tale, I hope that it gives some historical perspective. Any thoughts would be appreciated... I also hope that you all are hanging in there, whatever your situation might be. : )
I was diagnosed with small bowel Crohn's (failure to thrive/growth delay, but otherwise "healthy") in the 80's, got on asacol and pm NG feeds for 3 or 4 years therafter, and was then fine until the late 90's when I got very ill in college. I got stuck on prednisone 60mg/day for 4-6 months, and finally got off the asacol and on infliximab about a month before my first resection. Worked great, only lost 6" of TI, and 10 strictureplasties. Started 2mg/kg azathioprine prior to surgery, have been taking it ever since, doing great. No symptoms on a daily basis, just some abdominal pain if I eat corn/lettuce/etc. (Also, no further infliximab b/c I was doing so well...it was literally brand new and so no one really knew the requirement for continued dosing...)
Fast forward to mid-2000's; I get sick in the middle of medical school, upper GI shows a nice big stricture and a few little ones. Resection #2 and 3 strictureplasties later, and I'm off to sit for exams the next week. Sucks, but I admit that I was kind-of in pain for a while, but now I'm feeling really great.
And this brings me to about a month ago. I'm in the hospital (working overnight) and get this horrible, persistent abdominal pain. My good friend sees me, convinces me that I'm a moron for sitting around in this much pain, and walks me to the ER. Long story short, after about 3 hours, several doses of dilaudid, and that god-awful berry-tasting volumen or omnipaque or whatever pre-CT, I get a visit from the general surgery resident who informs me that I'm being admitted for a high-grade jejunal obstruction. I put in my own NG tube, and start the barrage of texts to my best friend (who thankfully is also a surgery resident and, being on call, is awake and alert at 04:00!)
So, after really having no recent symptoms at all, I'm now on daily budesonide, in the loading phase of Cimzia (apparently since this all happened while on azathioprine, I need something stronger), and on the OR schedule in early June.
The real issue is that, as best as I try, I cannot stop thinking about having surgery again. It will be #3, so why am I so stressed? I think it's because I have SO much advance notice... my mind seems to keep drifting back to it.
So, what would you suggest? I am trying my best to keep busy with all sorts of other things (and when I do happen to start thinking about it, I try to be productive, like thinking about what books I should put on my Kindle pre-op, or thinking about which track pants might be most comfortable for the post-op walking...)
Sorry for the long tale, I hope that it gives some historical perspective. Any thoughts would be appreciated... I also hope that you all are hanging in there, whatever your situation might be. : )
I went to Roots. They are a little pricey but I have a few pair and they have the open cuff on the bottom. They are very comfortable and the draw string is flat not the round kind. 
