Back to the hospital...

I'll post more details later, but my Crohn's is NOT good. The GI ordered up a CT which showed it was definitely active, and he attempted a sigmoid colonoscopy and he didn't want to go too far because it was pretty bad. This all started after I was rushed by ambulance 3am Friday from being in severe pain. The drug of choice has been dilaudid, which is an opiate 10x stronger than morphine! It took my pain level to around a 6....

They admitted me for at least 3-4 days. I'm an all clear liquid diet and bowel rest, so I assume he'll want me eating AND passing it before I even think about leaving. I've been on a host of drugs: Flagyl, Cipro, Steroids, Lovenox, Fluids, Phernergan, Dilaudid, Tylenol (for a fever now), and I'm on my 7th IV this week, 4th today and they are considering getting me a port. Has anyone had one? Do you recommend this? Pros? con? My 7th IV is on it's last leg!

I hate being away from my daugther, that seems to be the worst of it...

Not to mention, I ate just a LITTLE jello this morning and then my stomach made an awful gargle and I had a watery BM and back came the pain. I had gone about 18 or so hours without drugs, and back to it we went.... frustrating...

Back to resting....

This flare TOTALLY caught me off guard. I knew I was ill, but had no clue I was THIS sick.. I can't believe my pain levels yesterday... I really can't...

My husband was in a very similar position to yours in March and April this year. He had a very rough time being sick, and was in the hospital for over 6 weeks, and is still recovering. They also had difficultly finding veins to stick him in, though he didn't get a picc line. Instead, we had folks from the emergency room or the lab come and change his IV. They were so much more efficient and capable at finding viable veins, and when they did it, they didn't seem to have much trouble at all. His regular nurses had a lot of trouble finding veins. I've heard that picc lines can be the source of infections, and we wanted to avoid it if at all possible. And thanks to the emergency room nurses and the lab techs being so kind to us, we did avoid the picc line successfully.

My husband had both c-diff and a crohn's flare together, and the doc said his colon inflammation was the worst he'd ever seen. Even at 120mgs of solumedrol, my husband got little to no relief, and was in pain, and on dilaudid constantly. He was definitely headed towards surgery to remove about 1/2 of his colon, and come back home with a bag. Remicade was tried as a last ditch effort, and it helped him get out of the hospital. He's now on remicade every 8 weeks, and is doing much better than he was at the hospital and rebuilding his strength. He's not fully back to normal, but he is much much better.

If you haven't tried remicade yet, give it a shot, if you are don't have other concerns that preclude you from trying remicade. I was and still am very worried about side effects from remicade, but as far the crohn's is concerned, it really helped my husband avoid surgery and get out of the hospital. Also, Ensure drinks helped my husband's nutritional status (even though in the end he had lost 35 lbs, and was very weak).

I hope you start feeling better very soon.

Hugs,
Preetha

Thanks Nanners & PV - My 7th IV is failing.... They can't get the electrolytes in without it burning...

They think the new dose of Remicade will kick in in a few days, so we're "coasting." I typically drink boost when sick, but I'm on a CLEAR liquid diet now, so I get jello, icees, sprite, things of that nature....

No advice here...I'm new to the whole crohns thing, but I just wanted to wish you well and send some hugs and support. Hopefully you'll be back home soon! Thinking of you...*hugs*

Sending get well hugs your way,please take it easy and feel better soon.

Kaycie, I hope you feel better soon. Take the time to rest, both you and your bowel and let the IV fluids provide what nourishment they can. I'm sure it must be really hard to be away from your baby. I hope you'll be reunited at home soon. Take care. SB

Hope you start feeling better soon and get lots of rest in the hospital!!

 I am so sorry you have been through this.  I was in the hospital two weeks ago for 6 days with my Crohn's, and my veins are shot too.  Two years ago, when I was diagnosed, on the 7th day in the hospital, they finally put in a PIC line.  That saved my arms.  I have to go on Remacade after I get off this flippin Prednisone, so hopefully they will put a port or pic line in me.  LET THEM PUT THE PORT!  You will not regret it.  It is one less pain you will have to inure.  I hope you the best, and God Bless!