Surgery

[maggi]

surgery

My name is Maggie and have chohn disease since i was 17. The first couple years wasn't so bad, but the last year was very hard and painful, because i had a lot of abces ans fistulas that were very painful, and i hade too have surgerie to put some seton, so the abces would not come back. It's been a year since the surgerie and i still have pain. Last summer my doctor had me pass exams such as mri, and he saw that the my large intestin was very infected, and swollen. Im having a colonoscopy next week to see how long the inflamation is. And he told me that my next step wouod probably be surgery. Im a little nervous, but i can't wait to fell better. How long do i have to stay in the hospital? How long is the recovery?

 

[Astra]

Hiya Maggie
and welcome

Sorry I've not had any Crohn's surgery but wanted to welcome you anyway.
Someone will come along and advise soon
lotsa luv
Joan xxx

 

[Angrybird]

Hi Maggie :bigwave: what is found during the colonoscopy will obviously dictate what - if any - surgery is needed. If they find a narrowing (stricture) then the best case scenario is they do key hole surgery and cut out the narrowed bit and then re-join the two ends. It may be a small amount that needs to come out or a fairly big bit. All going as it should you are in the hospital 3-6 days. With this type of surgery I was told there was a very slight chance of things being worse than expected and the doc needing to open me up completely and remove more of the bowel than originally planned and perhaps having to give me a bag temporarily. There was a 4% chance of there being a leakage at the join and also then needing a further op to put in a bag. Don't be alarmed by this - they have to warn you of these things. Recovery is 6-8 weeks. If the colonscopy shows that things are in a right mess then they may need to go straight to doing a bag - I have no experience with this so will need to wait for somone who knows about this to come along. It's a bit daunting but the relief I felt after the op was imence.

 

[jlanier]

I have had a couple of surgeries due to crohns. With both surgeries I ended up having bowel resections. My first was actually due to my colon and small intestine perforating, which resulted in a temporary ileostomy. The second started out as just the reversal, then ended up as a bowel resection as well. I was in the hospital for both for about a week. Then it took about 6 weeks for recovery. The relief i got after my initial surgery was incredible.

 

[vonfunk]

What hospital?

I went to Mt. Sinai. I had the entire colon removed, I had a few different complications and was in the hospital for about 8-9 days. I had some troubles moving at first, but I found that by the time I as discharged I was fairly mobile. While I was still in the hospital I was able to make it to the variety store and back, i was weak but moving. I went back to work after 6.5 weeks.