Resection surgery

[Shadooosh]

I just had a resection surgery where 15 inches of my small intestines were removed, and i currently feel great. I have no pain at all and feel "normal" and am on only 10mg prednisone, waiting to move to humira.
I was just wondering how long this is expected to last before it flares again? Should i expect to feel this way forever? or is this just a temporary thing?
Has anyone else had this surgery and how did you feel after?

 

[Guest]

i think that's one of those questions that, if any of us had the answer, we'd be a millionaire lol

firstly, congrats on your successful surgery, and i'm delighted to hear its done the job and given you a feeling of good health back!

Crohns can recur/reflare at any time - with me it was 20 years after having intestine removed, which i know is really lucky. but i had to go through hell at the time of surgery and nearly lost my life - twice. once i had recovered from the trauma, i felt on top of the world - even got to the point for many years where i had almost forgotten what Crohns pain felt like, and began to take good days for granted.

i'd say just look after yourself really well, still treat your body gently regarding diet, nutrition, relaxation - that way, you're not inviting it to reflare.

 

[FruitLoop]

I had a re-section 3 years ago and felt amazing - people were even stopping me to tell me how well I looked (No-one had mentioned i looked like crap before !!).

All was great for 3 years and then about 2 months ago a major flare hit totally out of the blue - seems to have been caused by stress although we will never know.

I thought my Crohn's had been cut away with the damaged bowel - how wrong i was !

My downfall was although i stuck to a low residue diet for the first 1-2 years i then let bad foods creep in and became lax about it all.

Many people have no further problems after a re-section though.

My GP said if i ever get a flare up to seek help asap as the reason things were so bad initially was it took so long for me to come out of denial and admit things were bad.

 

[Kev]

My last op was resection.. Took out a ft & 1/2.. Felt fantastic afterwards, and lots of folks (myself included) thought I was 'cured'.. that's how much better I looked & felt. I stuck to my diet (very restrictive), rested, exercised, did all the right things.

Within two months, it all came back, rapidly, and worse than ever. My entire colon (except for right at the resection joint) is (was) totally involved again. my understanding is that this is pretty darned rare; and that my form of this damn disease is complex... looks like I maybe have both UC & CC, possibly even CD.
(they were never able to examine my ileum via scope, too much inflammation).
My condition deteriorated at express speed... again possibly due to it being a rare case of having both.. or that 10% where it is indeterminate. I really can't say for sure.. So, if anyone is afraid of resection, the surgery itself is routine (at least in my case - it was a walk in the park compared to other surgeries)..
AND my outcome is RARE, even EXTREME.. and further surgery is likely only a stop gap solution.. Which is why I'm pursuing a medicinal recourse only policy at the moment.. which seems to be working (knock wood). So, my adviso is IF you do have surgery.. don't think of it as a cure.. that you can go off diet, eat what you like, burn the candle at both ends; whatever. I don't think it works that way.. think those nasty little bugs inside us are pretty darned resilient.

 

[FruitLoop]

So, my adviso is IF you do have surgery.. don't think of it as a cure.. that you can go off diet, eat what you like, burn the candle at both ends; whatever. I don't think it works that way.. think those nasty little bugs inside us are pretty darned resilient.

That is exactly what I did - I saw a re-section as a cure (kind of like having your tonils out) and I became cocky in my diet, rest e.t.c.

 

[Shadooosh]

so what do you recommend in terms of a diet? just the typical low residue? Can i have any fresh fruit ever again?

 

[elp888]

I had resection surgery about 4 weeks ago and am also feeling pretty good. Although still a bit tired and mentally a little angry/frustrated about the past six months and how the CD completely took over my life.

As for food: i've been eating whatever I want - lost a lot of weight and was fed through an IV for 12 weeks, wasn't allowed to eat anything, so have some catching up to do. I feel I deserve it
I know many people on this site advise against that, but for me it feels right (ask me again in 6 months) for 2 reasons. Firstly, I had previous resection surgery 12 years ago and was in remission until last December while eating everything (although no meat, as I've been a vegetarian for reasons of principle). Secondly, both my doctor an dietitian have said that I don't need to keep a diet.

Good luck, I hope you keep feeling well. It's true that surgery is not a cure, but if it can give 12 years of remission, that's pretty good!

take care,
e

 

[Kev]

Well, to each their own.. I had a break from this disease for nearly a decade, and since I didn't know the old IBD timebomb was ticking away, I didn't stick to a diet.

however, since my long remissions seem to be behind me these days, I prefer to take a cautious approach. It may be just my superstition.. but I reason that.. IF its wise for a healthy person to follow a healty diet, it just seems very logical a person with IBD adhere to a healthy, IBD sensitive diet. that's all, OK?

 

[tracey]

My son is having surgery in 2 days time. Removing his terminal illeum. Glad i read this post. Heres hoping for 12 or more years of remission!
He has never been told anything about his diet. He is a typical teenager - hates veg's and anything vaguely good for him. Loves bacon and McDonalds.

 

[Maggie-Muffin]

Hello,I had a complicated resection done three months ago,and this time didn't feel that hot from it.I had alot of complications from it.Now I'm headed back to day surgery to fix some of them hopefully.Being sick is becoming a pain