YIKES, SURGERY! help-help-help

[Kacey]

I never thought it would get this bad.
I see a surgeon tomorrow. I had a SBFT on Monday, same day appt. for results and my GI recommends surgery AS WELL as remicade to prevent this kind of scarring from occurring again. I guess I'm in bad shape. Don't get me wrong, I feel it too, but I never thought surgery would have to happen. I was diagnosed 10 years ago, and spent 9 of those years feeling 'normal'. It's only been this last year where I've felt like I actually have a disease. I do consider myself lucky for feeling well for so long, but I was also in denial. SO SURGERY scares the CRAP outta me! I work a full time job, with a two year old son (I am 28 yrs old) -I am looking for some information regarding

Recovery, hospital stay (how long)
Pain meds,
Resuming normal diet (how long)
Resuming normal activities (work)

Any help/advice/stories would be appreciated. I should mention that the SBFT did not state how long the area of disaster actually is. I have no fistula's,abcesses...just the small bowel is diseased.

THANK YOU ALL

 

[archie]

Hi I had surgery last year and was also scared. I too work full time and have 2 kids under 4 so you have all the concerns i did. I had a hand assisted iliocecal resection to remove about a ft of small bowel and a bit of large bowel. I took 5 weeks to recover and return to work. The 1st 2 weeks were the hardest but pretty smooth after that. I was in hosp for a week able to eat solids after 2 days and fibre etc after 6 weeks. I have been pretty good since occasional strong tummy cramps occasional bad stomach occasional fatigue and occ diarrhea but all in all much better than last year and back to full fitness. Hope this is of some help and really the surgery was nowhere as bad as I thought it would be. Just ask if you've any questions and good luck