V
valin56
Guest
25 years ago I had a blockage at the point where my small and large intestines connected. I was in the hospital 2-3 weeks being fed via an IV before my intestines woke back up. They said I had Crohn's. I was never put on any medication and that's the last I remembered about having Crohn's. I last had a colonoscopy in 1999 with nothing wrong. Over the years though, especially the last 10 or so, my bathroom habits have really changed. The last 3 years or so, I've taken at least one Imodium tablet every morning to give myself some sort of regularity.
Anyway, the end of the second week in January of this year, my back began hurting. I thought I'd pulled a muscle working out. I went to my family doctor the next week. My stomach - lower right - was now hurting. He began treating me for diverticulitis. 10 days later after finishing up my meds, I went back and had him make an appointment with a Gastrointerologist. He scheduled me first for a CAT Scan and a week later a colonoscopy. He said he couldn't get the colonoscopy scope into my small intestine and had me schedule to see a surgeon ASAP. The next day, I was really hurting and he put me on a liquid diet. My surgeon's appointment wasn't for another 10 days but he got it changed to the following Wednesday. I was really hurting when I saw the surgeon. He squeezed me in for surgery late that Friday afternoon 26 Feb. The surgery lasted 1.5 hours and I was in recovery for 2.5 hours. They put me on a new medication that was to wake up my intestines quicker after surgery. The ice water they gave me to swallow that first pill just before surgery tasted so very good. I tried to get them to give me some more but they wouldn't. They removed a fist-sized abscess where I had my bowel surgery 25 years ago, 2 feet of small intestine that was wrapped around the abscess, and they fixed a hernia I didn't know I had.
They put me on a liquid diet the day after surgery. That was a mistake. The first night after surgery, I passed two bedpans full of blood and blood clots. That was really painful. Then I threw up everything I had in my stomach. They gave me two units of blood the next day (a Sunday - Surgery was Friday night), I started eating on Monday, and they released me on Wednesday. My taste was all screwed up. It would be another 2.5. weeks before my taste was anywhere close to normal again. A week and a half later after 4 nights of a 103 degree F. plus temp (104 on Friday). They put me back in the hospital. It was my 5th night of running a high temp. Another CAT Scan said I had acquired one of those nasty hospital infections and I had a large pocket and several small pockets of infection in my abdomen - right side. The put a drain in on Monday. You should have seen how much stuff they drained out. I was released Thursday night, came back the following Monday for them to put a larger drain in, and returned the next Monday for them to remove the drain. It's been two weeks since taking the drain out and it's still really sore there.
They've started me on a probiotic and some medication to help remove all the bile that is no longer getting absorbed. I go back in a few weeks to fine tune this medication quantity and put me on something for the Chrohn's. The surgeon said I was pretty lucky to go 25 years without a second surgery. I guess I'm pretty fortunate compared to a lot of people. I don't have any diet restrictions to date. I lost 35.5 pounds. You'd never know I lifted weights. In a swim suit I look anorexic, but I've gained back 11 pounds already and my taste is back. I just can't exercise yet besides walking. Doing more than that hurts my side where I had the drain to the abscess from the secondary infection. I'm not looking forward to being on a lot of medication; but if it helps put off the next bout of Chrohn's I guess it will be worth it.
Anyway, the end of the second week in January of this year, my back began hurting. I thought I'd pulled a muscle working out. I went to my family doctor the next week. My stomach - lower right - was now hurting. He began treating me for diverticulitis. 10 days later after finishing up my meds, I went back and had him make an appointment with a Gastrointerologist. He scheduled me first for a CAT Scan and a week later a colonoscopy. He said he couldn't get the colonoscopy scope into my small intestine and had me schedule to see a surgeon ASAP. The next day, I was really hurting and he put me on a liquid diet. My surgeon's appointment wasn't for another 10 days but he got it changed to the following Wednesday. I was really hurting when I saw the surgeon. He squeezed me in for surgery late that Friday afternoon 26 Feb. The surgery lasted 1.5 hours and I was in recovery for 2.5 hours. They put me on a new medication that was to wake up my intestines quicker after surgery. The ice water they gave me to swallow that first pill just before surgery tasted so very good. I tried to get them to give me some more but they wouldn't. They removed a fist-sized abscess where I had my bowel surgery 25 years ago, 2 feet of small intestine that was wrapped around the abscess, and they fixed a hernia I didn't know I had.
They put me on a liquid diet the day after surgery. That was a mistake. The first night after surgery, I passed two bedpans full of blood and blood clots. That was really painful. Then I threw up everything I had in my stomach. They gave me two units of blood the next day (a Sunday - Surgery was Friday night), I started eating on Monday, and they released me on Wednesday. My taste was all screwed up. It would be another 2.5. weeks before my taste was anywhere close to normal again. A week and a half later after 4 nights of a 103 degree F. plus temp (104 on Friday). They put me back in the hospital. It was my 5th night of running a high temp. Another CAT Scan said I had acquired one of those nasty hospital infections and I had a large pocket and several small pockets of infection in my abdomen - right side. The put a drain in on Monday. You should have seen how much stuff they drained out. I was released Thursday night, came back the following Monday for them to put a larger drain in, and returned the next Monday for them to remove the drain. It's been two weeks since taking the drain out and it's still really sore there.
They've started me on a probiotic and some medication to help remove all the bile that is no longer getting absorbed. I go back in a few weeks to fine tune this medication quantity and put me on something for the Chrohn's. The surgeon said I was pretty lucky to go 25 years without a second surgery. I guess I'm pretty fortunate compared to a lot of people. I don't have any diet restrictions to date. I lost 35.5 pounds. You'd never know I lifted weights. In a swim suit I look anorexic, but I've gained back 11 pounds already and my taste is back. I just can't exercise yet besides walking. Doing more than that hurts my side where I had the drain to the abscess from the secondary infection. I'm not looking forward to being on a lot of medication; but if it helps put off the next bout of Chrohn's I guess it will be worth it.
Glad you found us. You ARE very lucky to have gone that long without surgery. Hopefully you'll enjoy at least another 25!
