Surgery Qs

I had my 1st Crohns related surgery on Feb 3. They thought I would just have a few inches of my terminal ileum removed and I would be on my way. Got in there, there was a LOT more damage that thought. Just to warn you that sometimes things aren't what they seem and you could be waking up in recovery with more recovery than you thought you'd have - which is what happened to me. Mine ended up being an open surgery since the laproscopic procedure originally planned had to be aborted mid-surgery.

I wish someone had told me how possible that was so I could have prepared myself - that's the only reason why I mention it to you.

My hospital stay was 8 days. I could have gone home at 6 or 7 but glad I stayed until 8. I was home from work another week, then I worked 2 days the week prior, and then back to mostly FT for a week after that. In all honesty, I completely missed the month of February. I wasn't really "back" until March. The recovery was harder than I thought it would be and you can not rush it - you'll just stick yourself back in the hospital.

When I was eating solid food - at about day 7 post op - I could eat anything. I took it easy but after a few days, I got adventerous and tried some previously challenging things like salads, nuts, popcorn and it all was fine! My surgeon told me I could "drive a truck through my colon" now so I am enjoying all those foods I missed.

The prep was similar to a scope, no big deal.

I couldn't wait any longer for surgery. I had no quality of life thanks to the pain levels I was dealing with and the vicodin I was downing on a daily (hourly) rate. It was hard to rearrange my work obligations and I had to cancel some travel plans for conferences but my health had to be first. My profs in grad school were amazingly flexible for me; I know it's a year long intensive program but I would still explore the possibility of doing some work long distance for a few weeks. Or, do it during a break and then arrange to have an additional week out of classes to recover.

My GI took me off Cimzia when we decided surgery was the only option. I am now on 6mp only but may be back on Cimzia before long. My Crohns was active again about 35 days post-op. I didn't get much remission, sadly. That's pretty rare, though. Your GI may opt to just put you on a maintenance drug - like 6pm - following surgery and knock you off the rest. While in the hospital, I was on IV steroids and went home with enough to taper off it.

I would not try to "fit"the surgery into your schedule. As mentioned above they could find other things in there and have to convert to a open resection. That happended to me too. Also, even if done via laproscope, you still need to remember this is major surgery and you really need to rest up and recover. I hope you get this all figured out soon.

I had to wait a few months for surgery, and wish that I hadn't, all I did was get weaker as I waited. My recovery was complicated by sepsis, but I was truly messed up inside. So it took me months to recover from my first resection.

I will say this much, the best to can do is let the Grad co-ordinator know what your facing, much of it unknown, and find out how you and they can be flexible with your program so you can do both.

There is no either or here, but there is a need for you to learn patience. Your smart enough for grad school, be smart about this too, for the sake of your health.

One note, I would not recommend going back to nuts, seeds, peels and skins ( you can peel and seed a good summer tomato, just don't refridgerate it. You can peel the seeds of ripe strawberries, I do it all the time.

I would also suggest you avoid raw veg and watermelon and apples raw, but other fruits and veg should be ok, cooked veg more better -- oo exceptions carrots and corn (they are near impossible to break down).

The thing is, you won't see the damage right away, so care is necessary.

This is not to say you don't treat yourself to things once you are really recovered. I went from my first surgery to a pouch, and that allowed me to eat much without worry cuz if it didn't break down, it got out of me really fast. Not the same though for a resection. Some days I miss that pouch... sigh....

Impulsiveness and CD can be a tricky combination, so please take care. And see what your Grad coordinator can help you with.

Facing surgery it is always a good idea to rally your forces, friends, family, teachers, employers.

I think you can get all that you are working for, but you might not be able to control the timing, and that's ok if you respect this.

Thanks for the food advice. I would definitely want to work my way up to certain foods. I would probably start with cooked veggies to be safe but even that would be wonderful!!! I miss broccoli more than anyone can know lol. That's also a good idea about talking to the grad school coordinator. I will definitely talk to her at our orientation next week to see what she thinks. I wouldn't worry so much if it was just school but I will be starting an internship in the fall as well. The good news is that it will be in an agency so I won't be running all over town like I was doing this year. Hopefully I would be able to take it easy and sit for most of the day.

It is definitely tough to be impulsive and have CD...especially when it comes to food. I cave to cravings far too often and pay for it later. I am trying to really weigh my options for the surgery though. I definitely don't want to make anything worse than it already is and I certainly don't want to mess up grad school. The thing is that I will have to squeeze it in somewhere no matter what because I never slow down...always on the go. It will definitely make things tougher for the first semester but if I can just suck it up I think I'll be fine and I'd much rather do that than do it while looking for a job. I will keep the possibility of winter break open since I will have more recovery time but I would like to do it as soon as possible especially since I tend to flare up at the beginning of every school year. Maybe I can get it cut out before I start the inevitable flare lol.

Homeboy - Sorry to hear that you are still sore from your surgery. Did you have open surgery? I'm not really worried about being well enough to work out or anything...because I hate working out lol. I am a little worried about fatigue though. I don't have time to be tired with my schedule :( You weren't able to drive for 3 months? Is that because your surgery was for your colon? I imagine the surgery/recovery is a bit different than for the terminal ilium.

Oh I was also wondering if anyone has had their appendix taken out during a resection? I used to joke about how I was going to die from a burst appendix because I would think it was just a Crohn's flare up but my boyfriend suggested last night that I just have them remove it when they do the surgery since it's in the same area. I don't know that I would want to do that but it doesn't seem like a terrible idea. I mean...it's useless anyway and would be like preventative medicine. I don't know that they would want to have any more areas that could potentially get infected during recovery though. Anyway, was just wondering.

Hope everyone is having a wonderful day!!! <3<3 Cris

Mine was taken out as that's about where the worst of the CD was. No biggie.