perforation, abcess, and surgery

hi this is hanoon's wife posting for him

hanoon is currently admitted to the hospital. after 24 hours of straight severe pain i finally convinced him to go to the ER.

a CT showed that he had an abcess due to a perforation. the gastroenterologist wanted an immediate resection but that would mean an ostomy. the surgeon convinced us to have the abcess drained (with antibiotics) and give him some time to get better and perhaps have a more "healthy surgery" without an ostomy. we decided it's worth a shot.

either way he'll have surgery as he's been in a stubborn flair since july and is allergic to remicade. prednisone also hasn't helped.

our question is, what does the recovery look like after a resection? what's the timeframe? he has 16 inches of diseased small intestine.

thanks for any answers to our questions!

Hello!

I don't have any expereince with resections but I just wanted to send my prayers for his swift recovery!! And bless you for convincing him to go to the ER. Sometimes it is hard to think clearly when you are feeling so poorly. Thanks for looking after him.

I also had an abcess that the docs couldn't find until it burst and the infection really showed up on the cat scan all over the inside of my abdomen. They took me straight to surgery and also removed about 18 inches of my ileum. I had a drain in for a short while. Recovery time for me was roughly 8 weeks. This was 23 yrs ago.  I continued to do fine for about 20 yrs before my crohns started acting up again. Sounds like you have a smart surgeon.  Good luck to you guys.

asc58

Had two resections equaling about 18 inches. They put in a drain. Recovery time is weird. Basically your body will heal from surgery in a couple of months BUT your body will have to get used to the loss of intestine which can take about a year. Don't be scared. That's everything from scar tissue looks to learning how to eat how much for your body to all the weird muscle pangs from where the incision was made. It's not a bad year. The first two months are HARD. Then you work up from there. I only mention the year 'cause when I had my first resection, the Surgeon answered a question about how I could get a tight abdomen whenever the weather changed (not painful just a weird pulling feeling in the muscles). He said that including mental, emotional, and physical...it really was a year where you had to reteach muscles.

Hopefully, the abscess gets drained and you don't have to have too much intestine removed. I'm glad he did get help and sad that like us all, he kept hoping the pain would vanish and there would be nothing wrong. Good luck during the process. (Tell him to USE the pain button for the pain. Don't be a hero...'cause it takes much longer to stop hurting then it does to soothe the pain before it starts.)

his abcess is about the size of an apricot in the middle of his abdomen. the radiologist said nothing else leaked into his abdominal cavity, which is good. his drainage is going very well and he's supposed to have surgery next week. also he is supposed to get a central line and TPN later tonight or tomorrow morning.

thanks for all the advice and prayers!

First of all, thanks all of you for your responses, prayers, and support. Second, My wife is the best gods gift i have in my life, Without her I cant imagine how i would cope with this disease and survive she is myhero and god bless and reward her for me and for every thing she does to make me happy and feel good about myself. By the way I'm writing this from my bed in the hospital using my lap top since i found out they have Internet access here. Right now I feel very good after finding out this crohn's is going to leave me alone soon. by the way last update that I'm not going to have the open surgery next week because I'm planning to have the LaproScopic surgery which gives me a better chance not to have astomy and a faster recovery since I'm a good candidate for it that what my surgeon said. Hope that will help me reach a remission for quite some time.

thanks again for all your responses and prayers. I ll keep u posted


HanooN

Hi Glad to see your update and that you will soon get some relief. I must say it was very nice of your wife to keep us posted. So will you be home and it is nice that hospitals nowadays have the access to internet makes it not so isolated.Best Wishes with your lapo surgery.lol gail

Good luck to you and praying for a awesome recovery!!  I have taken care of a few people (I'm a nurse) lately who have had lap resections and have done great!!!It's amazing what they can do these days.

Keep us posted