Small Bowel Resection next week - SCARED!

[AngelMommy]

This is my first post on here. I found this site because I discovered that I have a small bowel intussesception a few weeks ago and need to have surgery, and I am completely freaking out.

I am 44 year old female, and I have had symptoms of IBS most of my adult life off and on, but four years ago, I was under extreme stress and I started having explosive D and severe vomiting. Sometimes this happened a few times a week. I ended up losing 30 pounds, due to the fact I was afraid to eat and most of it went right through me.

I just took it as being caused by the stressful situation I was in and thought it was IBS and never looked into it. Well, now that it is years down the line, the episodes don't last as long and they seem to be triggered by greasy food most of the time. I have cut a lot of grease out of my diet. The last time I had grease I ended up throwing up for 10 hours and had D as well. Mucus and some blood in stool as well. It was very scary.

I finally went to the Dr and the CT showed a thickening of the small bowel with a suggestion of an intussesception. No tumors were seen on the scan. I had my gallbladder checked and it is fine.

Does this sound like crohn's? Sometimes it wakes me up in the middle of the night, my stomach always gets bloated after eating and I do have very stiff joints, and joint pain. I get chills and am very fatigued when this happens. It only lasts a day or two and then I am ok. The D is always explosive with tons of cramping which makes me vomit.

I am so scared of the surgery and what I am going to wake up to. Dr said he is hoping for laparoscopy, and probaby won't have a colostomy bag, thank God! But I am worried for the biopsy results. I believe that the intussesception came from the violent contractions from all the vomiting. I am praying it is nothing really bad. I have a small child at home and I need to be here for her.

Any advice would be appreciated.... Sorry for the long post.

 

[highlandsrock]

Hi AngelMommy

Sorry to hear you're having such a bad time of it. I was like you, really scared of surgery and that was without the thought of having to wear a bag.

Well I've now been through it all, 2-3 years ago, and survived. It wasn't anything like as bad as I had imagined and because it was planned surgery there was time to come to terms with it all before going into hospital. I reckon that made all the difference.

It's not possible to say if it Crohn's or not but a lot of your symptoms sound very familiar.

Keep posting and let us know how you get on

 

[Ihurt]

Wow, I am sorry you went through all this. Have they done other tests like colonoscopy? Not sure what could have caused the intussesception as I do not know much about that. Did he say for sure if you have an intussesception, and is this why he wants to do the resection? Has he mentioned you trying any medications first? Are you able to hold an food down at all without vomiting? I am sorry you are dealing with this and hope the can get to the bottom of all this...

 

[bozzylozzy]

Hi there..

Im sorry you are going through this.. and surgery is never an easy thing to deal with.
What I am going to say is.. your doctor is right to do a laparoscopy. That way he can have a proper look. I had to have this done in oct'2011 with a 9 month old at home... the same thing happened where I had to sign documents saying I was aware and agreed to having a bag if necessary.

Thankfully it wasnt required for me. And I really really hope you dont need one either.
Waiting for biopsy results is a very anxious time but please know, that if you do have a form of IBD.. at least they know what kind of treatment is required to make you feel more like yourself.
And to feel like yourself is important.. because you will be able to play and look after your child better (I think you know what I mean? I hated it so much when I felt so ill that I couldnt look after my daughter as much as I wanted to it was heartbreaking)

I am sending you big hugs.. and please keep us updated :hug:

 

[Jennifer]

Hi AngelMommy and welcome to the forum!

The thickening could be from inflammation or scar tissue or both. IBS doesn't cause inflammation like that nor does it cause bleeding (although for children an intussusception could cause bleeding. That link talks about intussusception in adults as well). I'm sure the surgery will go well and you likely wont wake up with a stoma. Everyone is warned about the possibility before a resection (I was warned before my resection yet I don't have one).

Good luck with your surgery and keep us posted on how you're doing and on the biopsy results when you get them. Take care. *HUGS*