Remembering my 1st surgey😋

4th of July 1985 I was back in the barracks after holiday fun when all of a sudden I get a terrible pain in my lower right belly. I think well I ate something bad at the base bbq. So by midnight I could not hardly take a step, so I drove myself over to the base hospital where they immediately thought it was appendicitis. So after waiting for a surgeon to get there, I had surgery. When dr. Got inside he saw the mass of fistula and fat wrapped inflamation. He was not skilled enough to do much but remove my appendix. Poor guy was a very Jr Dr . and was all alone at a 20 bed military hospital😇 . it was a year and a half later at a huge army hospital before it was removed, which took 1/2 my colon ,terminal ileum, and ileocecal valve. Gave me my first 10 inch scar!😁

Happy 4th!🇺🇸

The first one, they had me mowing lawns in about 10 days till my Dr put a stop to it😉Mean 1st sgt. Push mower in July Wyoming heat. but back to work in 3 weeks. The next one was 3 weeks in the hospital and back to work at 4 weeks. Of course I was only 22 and 23 respectivly. And in general good health.

Susie: when you had your surgery, was your disease limited to colon only? I read it somewhere which says if the small bowel is not involved in Crohn's Disease, your prognosis is the best.

Good to know, Susie. I understand you are either in remission or have Crohn's under control for 20+ years without major issues after the surgery. My Crohn's is also limited to small bowel only.

@Randy, heck no on skipping out, lol. My husband had to put up his Master Card before they would touch me. Over there it was cash or credit card. By Monday they did get authorization from Aetna & they paid around 10k for everything. We got reimbursed $750 for the ambulance ride, we made 2 stops on the way to the hospital. First stop was for gas, the 2nd stop they pulled to the side of the road & a guy with the old style credit card machine came out of jungle to collect for the ride. True story, absolutely the most bizarre vacation we have ever been on in our lives.

The language barrier was just awful, no one spoke English. The surgeon drew a pic of the small bowel on a scrap piece of paper in pencil, I still have that paper, lol.

Susie,

You must often look back and wonder how you ever survived an ordeal like that. You must feel that you had an angel on your shoulder.

That sounds pretty brutal. Kudos to you!!! It was rough enough having issues here in the US. I can't imagine in another country. Did they give you good pain meds for the ambulance rides? They'd have tossed me out. My Spanish is not that good.... Well... Except my curse words... and I'd have been screaming those.

My first surgery..... I had my scope... Everything looked great. A few days later we went out to eat... And I suddenly felt like someone had blown a balloon up in my intestines. My abdomen was distended.... Horrible cramps, pain, nausea... We drove 3 hours in rush hour traffic to the ER... Where the nurse (while I was checking in) said I looked fine. They waited to see me over 3 hours... (Until I started puking all over the place) and then they took me back for an inflammation stricture/obstruction. They gave me IV Prednisone, pain meds, did a dilation, and finally sent me home. 3 days home and we were racing for the ER again. It was back. This went on for over 3 months... I was in the hospital more than out of it. I ended up with mega colon. We tried dilation..... antibiotics were causing intense allergic reactions where I'd stop breathing. Scary scary time. Nothing worked. CRS walked in with GI and said it's time, we will do a colostomy and save as much as we can.... Hopefully we will be able to hook you back up. 13 hour surgery.... I coded during and after.... But survived. That surgery changed me.... Almost everything about me changed.

I was so relieved when I woke up. I felt healthier. I can't describe it. It was amazing. I was black and blue all over my body.... But I felt wonderful. I remember wondering if my stoma was going to be friend or foe. It is sometimes both and sometimes neither.

My stoma tingles and turns colors and swells right before I start to have issues. Pale pink for a day then dark dark purple red means an obstruction is forming. Bright red, pulsing and twice it's size ..... Flare or infection.. Shrinking inwards and light pink...my fistulas are about to go crazy...start antibiotics immediately or it'll change to example #2....It's like my own emergency alert system.... Well so far.... Knock on wood.

So far all my issues (except extra intestinal) have only been in my colon..... I'm hoping that it doesn't go any place else.

Clo

Post Edited (clo2014) : 7/7/2023 6:30:52 PM (GMT-8)

I will say happy 4th,just a bit late.
A 1/15 FA,2nd ID Korea DMZ 1971.
Oldmike