Hello,
My name is Shelia and I am new to this site. I was diagnosed with Crohn's 28 years ago at the age of 18, my first semester of my freshman year of college. I've been through a lot of medicines and in 2003 I had my first surgery, had a fistula, stricture and abscess. After that I had 9 and a half years of total remission. Last November was my second surgery, I had been sick for a full year on Entocort, azathioprine and pain meds then went on Cimzia and off Azathioprine. I was going through a very unusually stressful time and it started with my aunt dying of breast cancer in February of 2012 and three months later ,my only sibling, my brother being diagnosed with Colorectal Cancer and was staged at a three. He was 38 and single and I was his caregiver. He went through chemo and radiation then had surgery in Oct 2012. By January of 2013 his first set of scans showed cancer had spread to his liver and was inoperable, but they started very aggressive chemo anyway. In February my daughter who was 11 had back surgery for her scoliosis and I took care of her whole my brother had chemo. Finally August of 2013 my brother got to have liver surgery the tumors had shrunk enough. Again I spent 6 wks with him and during his follow up appt I saw his first surgeon he used for his colorectal surgery. I had my surgery Nov 5th and recovery was rough I was really ran down. On December 15th my dad had open heart surgery, I wasn't well enough to make the trip. I live in Virginia, my dad in Arkansas and brother in North Carolina. My daughter and brother had surgeries at Duke University Hospital, I did at Duke Hospital in Raleigh. My dad made all the surgeries. His surgery was in Arkansas.
Yes what a year, it took its toll on us all. But we are all doing well from surgeries. My brother is on a three month cycle of checkups and his first two have been cancer free. He goes back in July. My dad and brother took a trip together the first cancer free time.
Sorry to ramble on about surgeries and cancer it's all relevant when it comes to living through life's stresses with Crohn's. And yes with my brother having cancer I've had all the necessary scans etc and on that I'm all good.
This recovery for me has been tough I've had anemia problems which are getting better. A month ago I started having terrible pain and had a Ct Scan and had to go back to surgeon because one dr thought I had a fistula and I didn't. So I had a colonscopy since I haven't had one where they could go all the way through and it was good. Felt better for a bit and this past week I've noticed along my incision on the left where all the work was done it bulges out and is hard and is hurting. Today well now yesterday I went to the doctor and now he is scheduling a small bowel follow through to be sure there is no stricture. My appt was at 930 am so I wasn't swollen like that because I hadn't ate enough usually by 2 in the afternoon it starts. Right now it's killing me and I can't sleep. It's been almost 7 months since surgery and I'm still in a recliner to sleep. If I lay in bed my stomach numbs up and it's hard to get up. I think the bottom line for me is that I was really spoiled being symptom free for 9 years! Today was just a bad day, I didn't want to hear another test. Last week I had a filling fall out and I have to get a crown. Ok I'm done I feel better! Usually I just have started laughing when things go wrong I've become cynical I suppose. But today I let myself be frustrated, tomorrow I won't. If you've read this far you are a trooper. Thanks for listening.
Shelia
My name is Shelia and I am new to this site. I was diagnosed with Crohn's 28 years ago at the age of 18, my first semester of my freshman year of college. I've been through a lot of medicines and in 2003 I had my first surgery, had a fistula, stricture and abscess. After that I had 9 and a half years of total remission. Last November was my second surgery, I had been sick for a full year on Entocort, azathioprine and pain meds then went on Cimzia and off Azathioprine. I was going through a very unusually stressful time and it started with my aunt dying of breast cancer in February of 2012 and three months later ,my only sibling, my brother being diagnosed with Colorectal Cancer and was staged at a three. He was 38 and single and I was his caregiver. He went through chemo and radiation then had surgery in Oct 2012. By January of 2013 his first set of scans showed cancer had spread to his liver and was inoperable, but they started very aggressive chemo anyway. In February my daughter who was 11 had back surgery for her scoliosis and I took care of her whole my brother had chemo. Finally August of 2013 my brother got to have liver surgery the tumors had shrunk enough. Again I spent 6 wks with him and during his follow up appt I saw his first surgeon he used for his colorectal surgery. I had my surgery Nov 5th and recovery was rough I was really ran down. On December 15th my dad had open heart surgery, I wasn't well enough to make the trip. I live in Virginia, my dad in Arkansas and brother in North Carolina. My daughter and brother had surgeries at Duke University Hospital, I did at Duke Hospital in Raleigh. My dad made all the surgeries. His surgery was in Arkansas.
Yes what a year, it took its toll on us all. But we are all doing well from surgeries. My brother is on a three month cycle of checkups and his first two have been cancer free. He goes back in July. My dad and brother took a trip together the first cancer free time.
Sorry to ramble on about surgeries and cancer it's all relevant when it comes to living through life's stresses with Crohn's. And yes with my brother having cancer I've had all the necessary scans etc and on that I'm all good.
This recovery for me has been tough I've had anemia problems which are getting better. A month ago I started having terrible pain and had a Ct Scan and had to go back to surgeon because one dr thought I had a fistula and I didn't. So I had a colonscopy since I haven't had one where they could go all the way through and it was good. Felt better for a bit and this past week I've noticed along my incision on the left where all the work was done it bulges out and is hard and is hurting. Today well now yesterday I went to the doctor and now he is scheduling a small bowel follow through to be sure there is no stricture. My appt was at 930 am so I wasn't swollen like that because I hadn't ate enough usually by 2 in the afternoon it starts. Right now it's killing me and I can't sleep. It's been almost 7 months since surgery and I'm still in a recliner to sleep. If I lay in bed my stomach numbs up and it's hard to get up. I think the bottom line for me is that I was really spoiled being symptom free for 9 years! Today was just a bad day, I didn't want to hear another test. Last week I had a filling fall out and I have to get a crown. Ok I'm done I feel better! Usually I just have started laughing when things go wrong I've become cynical I suppose. But today I let myself be frustrated, tomorrow I won't. If you've read this far you are a trooper. Thanks for listening.
Shelia
