A little while ago, I posted that my wife was getting ready for her first surgery
http://www.crohnsforum.com/showthread.php?t=30203
Her condition was getting worse, but we had no way of judging how much worse or what to do about it. We called docs but it was the holidays and everyone was busy. We finally got to see her G/I on the 4th of January.
Long story short is that we accepted his offer to admit her to the hospital right away. She has an abscess (we suspected that) that has gotten infected (we knew that, too). The infection has seemed to resist the antibiotics (cipro and flagyl) -- that was the piece we were missing.
After a team of docs, and a LOT of pain and discomfort, the docs put in a percutaneous drain (meaning they poked a needle in her tummy and are using that to drain the infections and gunk out). The drain has reduced her pain level substantially. Her antibiotics have been upgraded to Zocyn and fluconazole (both IVs) and she's better, but not well and still in the hospital.
I wanted to post this to update her condition for those who have said a prayer for her (keep it up, by the way, it's been helping).
And also, I wanted to post this to remind you to be assertive with your medical care. We thought we were good at this. But when you're a patient, there is just so much you don't know. We didn't know well enough what to expect and probably blew the timing. As a result, she'll probably need a more invasive surgery than she would have had we jumped on it at full speed in early December. Medical issues can't go backwards. if you break something, it's hard to fix. So it's better to take no chances up front. You don't have to be a jerk, but please be willing to be assertive and proactive with your health care. If you don't know what it is, don't assume it's ok. It's better to be a pain to the docs than to be in pain later.
I'll try to post a follow up when she gets better. Current prognosis is that, if they can get the infection under control, they can maybe do a surgery without a bag or having to "ectomy" too much. No guarantees, of course, but we're hopeful.
Thanks for listening and your prayers and kind thoughts.
--kevin
http://www.crohnsforum.com/showthread.php?t=30203
Her condition was getting worse, but we had no way of judging how much worse or what to do about it. We called docs but it was the holidays and everyone was busy. We finally got to see her G/I on the 4th of January.
Long story short is that we accepted his offer to admit her to the hospital right away. She has an abscess (we suspected that) that has gotten infected (we knew that, too). The infection has seemed to resist the antibiotics (cipro and flagyl) -- that was the piece we were missing.
After a team of docs, and a LOT of pain and discomfort, the docs put in a percutaneous drain (meaning they poked a needle in her tummy and are using that to drain the infections and gunk out). The drain has reduced her pain level substantially. Her antibiotics have been upgraded to Zocyn and fluconazole (both IVs) and she's better, but not well and still in the hospital.
I wanted to post this to update her condition for those who have said a prayer for her (keep it up, by the way, it's been helping).
And also, I wanted to post this to remind you to be assertive with your medical care. We thought we were good at this. But when you're a patient, there is just so much you don't know. We didn't know well enough what to expect and probably blew the timing. As a result, she'll probably need a more invasive surgery than she would have had we jumped on it at full speed in early December. Medical issues can't go backwards. if you break something, it's hard to fix. So it's better to take no chances up front. You don't have to be a jerk, but please be willing to be assertive and proactive with your health care. If you don't know what it is, don't assume it's ok. It's better to be a pain to the docs than to be in pain later.
I'll try to post a follow up when she gets better. Current prognosis is that, if they can get the infection under control, they can maybe do a surgery without a bag or having to "ectomy" too much. No guarantees, of course, but we're hopeful.
Thanks for listening and your prayers and kind thoughts.
--kevin
