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life after resection

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Crohn's Disease
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Posted 1/22/2009 9:01 PM (GMT 0)
Hi all my qestion is how long after the resection did you notice your life was really turning around to normal, my wife has battled 4 years now she is going to have a resection, do they check b12 and hormones during preop, how long was the hospital stay and how long before the return to work.

Any information would be appreciated.

Posted 1/22/2009 9:25 PM (GMT 0)
Hi Keepinghope,

I have had 3 bowel resections over 29 years of crohns. I am usually in hospital about 10 days. After the surgery, you cannot have anything my mouth for about 3 days, or until she passes gas. Depending on the Dr. she may even have a gastric tube. They don't want anything passing through the stoma. After she passes gas she will have a fluid diet, then graduate to a soft diet. She will be off work 6-8 weeks assuming she is feeling up to it. I am sure the Dr. will be doing bloodwork, but I would ask about the B-12. I know they will do a CBC and potasium level, but I'm not sure about the B12. Please make sure your wife talks to her GI regarding maintence medicine. In my case the crohns was back at the resection site within 6 months. I wish her well, and I hope she is symptom free for a very long time. Please keep us posted on her progress.

Julia
Posted 1/22/2009 9:30 PM (GMT 0)
I also had Crohn's for roughly four years before my resection.

My hospital stay was either three or  four days (can't remember exactly), but I had it done laprascopically which shortens the length of time needed in the hospital.

I was up and doing things (including exercise) in two weeks. Not everyone should do that though, increases the risk of scar tissue. The recommended amount of time to take off is roughly a month. She will have a post-op appt two weeks after to see how things are going.

 It does take a bit of time for the bowel movements to slow down...and some of that may continue depending on what area is being resected. There are ways around this though.

In regards to testing hormones, I'm not sure why they would unless there was reason to suspect pregnancy...

B12 levels can be tested if your wife begins to feel tired or weak a few months after surgery.

 

Posted 1/22/2009 9:32 PM (GMT 0)
Hi Welcome back. They checked my B-12 before surgery and did the bloodwork needed on me . I was in the hospital for 6 days and I had open surgery and staples, it took awhile to get my strength back as I was run down before surgery. Will she be having lapo or open surgery ? That depends , how long she will be in the hospital. Once a person starts walking it is good to get as much in as a person can without over doing it. Hope things go good for her and it helped me alot. Is this her first surgery? lol gail
Posted 1/22/2009 9:39 PM (GMT 0)

Yes this is the first resection, the surgeon already tried to tell her it is going to be slow recovering, she has never had major sugeries before so we will wait and see

Posted 1/23/2009 2:36 AM (GMT 0)
      HELLO, i had my first surgery november 19th and am still not right. I had a leak in my intestine where they fixed it. That caused a fistula and 4 abcessess. It has been quite an ordeal. I had 4 drains in, now am down to 1 and still have leak. I believe it will end up with another surgery to fix it. I wish her well and will say a prayer for her. lol jersey

Posted 1/23/2009 9:16 AM (GMT 0)
I've had one resection, it was done laproscopically and I was still in hospital for 10 days. My doctor had said I'd probably be out in 5, but they wouldn't discharge me until food passed all the way through (instead of coming back up, which happened for the first 9 days!). I was then off work for another 4 weeks, and even then I probably went back sooner than I should have - I was just so bored at home.

I felt better after a couple of months and it lasted for about a year. I still had many symptoms though, so although the op brought relief, it doesn't necessarily mean your health ever gets back to the level you would want!

I hope it goes well for your wife, good luck.
Posted 1/23/2009 2:31 PM (GMT 0)
I had a resection in July 2007. It was an open surgery and I was in the hospital for 8 days. I was supposed to have a laparoscopic surgery but they ended up cutting me open because it was worse than they thought. I have a 7" scar and had 26 staples. The recovery was pretty rough from my experience and I have had many surgeries before this one. I had little to no energy for at least 5 weeks and for the first 3 weeks I looked like I was going to die! Please suggest to her that she really take time to recover. The more you rush it, the longer it could take.

GOODLUCK~!
Posted 1/23/2009 10:31 PM (GMT 0)
I've had 3 resections. I recovered a little slower after each one, age maybe? Or the fact that my kids were a little bigger and needed more attention? But all good advice posted above. As for the B12, everyone is different. Your body stores B12. So depending on how long she has actually had CD, and where her CD is, her store may already be depleted or she may have years to go. I didn't need to start B12 shots until about 11 or 12 years after my first resection, which was 15 years after diagnosis, and 25 years after the onset of symptoms.

There are some wonderful past posts with even more advice about resections that you can do a search on.

Please keep us posted and keep asking questions.
Posted 4/14/2009 12:02 AM (GMT 0)
Hi All

The resection is done. They have not put her on any maintenance meds until they determine if another surgery is required due to her being back in hospital with infection 2 weeks later. She has gone to a nutritionist to find out there is no vitamin C or magnesium in her system. Mentally she seems more calm. She has gone back to work but is extremly tired.
She is very timid to eat and gain weight. She thinks she should stay around 100ibs.
Posted 4/14/2009 1:25 AM (GMT 0)
Hi Glad to hear her surgery is now over but hope she doesn't need more surgery I had infection but it cleared up ...let us know how she is doing ..lol gail
Posted 4/18/2009 1:15 AM (GMT 0)
She has been told the possibility does exist that more sugery will be required for infection, the doc had a ct scan done last week,
Posted 4/18/2009 1:35 AM (GMT 0)
cry  Hi Keepinghope  glad to hear that the surgery is over maybe now she will get back to herself but an infection will set her back thats for sure i had 5 resections now but after my first they put me on B-12 injections cause i couldn't absorb it ant more there is a test that they do they check your intrinsic factor in your urine than they can figure out the dose she will need and maybe she can still absorb it and get away with just taking the pill form of B-12 as for hormones i never had mine checked before but it wouldn't hurt to ask the doctor or a OBGYN doc at least bravo to you my friend your a great support for your wife i'm sure many wives would be happy to have that your a good man,that is just what she needs and i really hope you can put all of this behind you and move on and give your marriage another try its easy to see how much you love her that magic is still there,the reason you fell in love in the first place remember that and love will never leave you stranded. Your Friend Jenn keep me posted keepinghope good luck to you and your wife yeah
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