hospitalised with an obstruction

I was diagnosed with crohns in late October 2013. My first symptoms started in January 2013. I went to to ER yesterday with severe abdominal pain. It was the worst pain I'd ever felt! I thought I was going to literally die. I drank some contrast and they did a CT scan and saw that my intestines were only about as wide as a piece of string. It barely even showed up on the scan it is so narrow, preceded by a seriously swelled open section. I'm now hospitalized on a high dose of IV steroids and morphine. This is the first time I've ever been hospitalized. They say if I don't show major improvement by tomorrow they're going to removed about a foot of my intestines, and my appendix because it'll be easier to reattach without it. I'm nervous but I'm so glad I'll finally be out of pain for at least how ever long it takes to come back like they said it will. Has anyone else been in this situation? What will recovery be like? They said I'll spend about 4 days in the hospital after surgery, then 6 weeks at home on bed rest.

I think you may want to see if it is at all possible to get a second surgeon's opinion before doing the surgery. You may need more than one day to bring down the inflammation with the IV steroids. I am not a doctor and surgery may indeed be your best option right now. I am just worried that the IV steroids might in fact work and then you can get on biologics to keep the inflammation down. Good luck with everything.

I started on Budesonide with no response and my Dr switched me to 40mg Prednisone about 2 weeks ago and I still have had no response (other than crazy side effects). They are doing the surgery this afternoon because I still am not responding to the IV steroids. The Dr says it's most likely scar tissue causing the structure at this point so steroids aren't affecting it.

Thank you!

They removed 18 inches of my small intestines at the terminal illeum. Right before the stricture my intestine was stretched to wider than a soda can, and the structure itself was narrower than a drinking straw. There was an abscess, and there was also a twisted loop that was removed.
The scariest part is I was scheduled for a colonoscopy this coming Friday and the surgeon said if I had gone through with the prep cleanout I would have ruptured my bowels and most likely have died. He recommended I find a new GI because my CT scan from October showed it was this bad and I should have had this surgery months ago. Im at the hospital my GI works out of and he still hasn't visited me and I've been here for 3 days! 4-5 days to go on an IV diet while I heal. If I see that stupid GI doc I'm going to punch him in the face!
I'm soooooo relieved to be on the road to recovery though!!!

I'm glad to hear that you got through the surgery ok. It sound like you really needed it! I hope you heal quickly and get to go home soon!

Just an update:
I'm still in the hospital. Today is my 6th day. Still on IV nutrition because I'm NPO (Nothing by mouth). I'm still very sore, but my doctors will be happy to hear I finally passed gas last night so they MIGHT let me have a little broth tonight since I proved my bowels are moving! They are saying if I keep progressing I could get to go home on Monday. I've lost 5 lbs since I've been in, so I hope that's not going to delay anything, like if they want me to pack on some pounds before I leave too. I was already very underweight when I came in.
I'm a little nervous about going home because I'm still not going to be able to help much. I have a 4 year old and a 7 month old baby. My husband already has his hands full without having to do too much caretaking for me.

Not super related, but I have a 6 month old baby and have been hospitalized 7 times in the past 4 months - it really, really stinks being a mommy of an infant and having to be away for so long in the hospital. Just wanted to say that I'm sorry you have that, but I am so glad that things worked out well and that they caught things before that colonoscopy prep!

Glad to hear it!! I hope you recover quickly!!

I am not on bed rest. I went back to work the week after I was released from the hospital, but I have a desk job so its not lifting or even standing. I walk around a lot tho. I followed up with my surgeon before I went back yo work, but I haven't seen a GI yet. I found a new one but he couldn't see me until April. I scheduled my appt for April. I didn't want to go back to my first GI because he obviously wouldn't know if there was a problem since he let me get that bad.

Glad you're doing a bit better! I hope things are going well and you're able to have fun with your kids, too. That's the hardest part about being a mommy and having hospital stays.