removal of some small intestine

Well, I can't aviod it anymore, I need surgery. I have a narrowing in my small intestine near TI. Please share your similar experiences with me. I'm nervous, am I doing the right thing (not really any option), how long off work, how painful is it, how long till eating again, how big is scar? Any info will be great, thanks!

Kristine

Hello Kristine,

Each person is different when it comes to surgery. Mine was emergency since my ileum perforated, and due to it being an emergency I was not "prepped and cleaned out". I also had complications with the surgery which I ended up needing another surgery 1 week later to give me a temp ostomy. That time I also awoke with the dreaded NG tube...at least it was placed while I was asleep. Again after that one I had complications as well EX a dumb resident got feces in my incision 2 times and said no it doesnt need to be flushed....I ended up with an infection and needed a wound vac. Also I had a couple of abscesses. Had the first Surgery worked (meaning my colon woke up) I would have been back to work in 4-6 weeks and I worked at a physical job (they layed me off after hearing I would have 3 weeks of restrictions to parts of my job). As for pain both my resection and ostomy surgeries I was able to use Dilaudid in the pump (later pills when I got home), they tried oxycontin but due to the ostomy the pills were going into the bag whole where the writing was still legible...even after the reversal they were coming out whole. Due to that my surgeon gave me the fentanyl patch. I needed stronger pain meds due to having used lots of vicodin, percoset etc throughout the 20yrs of CD.

As for my reversal the pain was horrid. They asked me if I wanted an epidural I said no then asked my surgeon prior to the Sx if he thought I needed one and he said you have a high tolerance for pain you should be fine without it. I do have a high tolerance but I ended up with 5 procedures done (more lg and sm intestines removed, reversal of ostomy, removal of abscess, scraping infection off abd walls and adhesion removal). I was in recovery for may hours trying to get the pain under control and ended up with the epidural (which made my R waist to knee numb until it was removed) they removed this on day 3 post op. The 2 initial surgeries on the day after I was up and washing my hair in the sink in my room standing and bent with my head in the sink and a nurse wasing it and a cna there as well. After the last Sx It took me til the 2nd day post op for this.

Hi. I had surgery in April '07 and knock wood am doing very well so far.  I was having bleeding that wouldn't stop and I had 2 areas in small instestine that were badly inflamed.  Doctors said remicade could make things worse and pred was not working so surgey was only option.  They did not do it laparscopically but scar is not too bad - narrow and about 2 1/2" long next to belly button. (I am a 45 year old man in pretty good shape, but not sure if such a scar would be more of a problem for a younger woman!)  

They removed about 2 feet of my intestine in the jejumum area - I was told i have about 7 feet left on one side and 11 feet left on the other , so I shouldn't have any absorption issues and I have not had any.

In any event, I think they gave me too much morphine the evening of the surgery because I felt pretty sick the next day - when I figured it out I stopped the pain killers and the sickness feeling went away.  Pain was really not too bad and I stopped painkillers entirely the night after surgery. 

One thing that was interesting was that (at least for me) unil you first pass gas after a few days - you may get some cramping in shoulders - I was told gas trapped in body rises - wasn't too bad and went away competely after I first passed gas!

I was in hospital for about 5 days and stayed home from work for about 2 1/2 weeks after that.  I have still not done any ab work but am back to working out with weights, jogging and playing golf with no side effects.

They have started me on 6 MP as a maintenance drug as I am told it should help maintain remission.  Before surgery I was only on pentasa.  I will stay on pentasa until 6 MP kicks in.  I am only on 50 mg so far because I had some pancreas reading issues initially that seemed to have passed.

Although I had resisted stronger drugs like 6 MP in the past - after going through the surgery I would like to do wwhat I can to maintain remission as long as  I can.