Had surgery on Jan 19th. good news was as follows:
1) only had to remove 8 inches of small intestines and 4 inches of colon. 3 strictures in a row
2)my gut malrotation was a blessing in that the strictures were right were he made the incision. the surgeon did not need to hunt for the problems. as he put it, they just flopped right out of my body.
3)open surgery but no sitches or staples on the outside. and only needed a 6 inch incision!!
4) had epidural- what a blessing
released on day 5
now the bad.
1) on day 3 had major bleeding from the rectum. hemoglobin dropped to 8. next day came back up to 8.4 so felt like the bleeding stopped
2) recovery at home was going well, very little pain. then on day 10, MAJOR bleeding again. had wife drive me to ER in a ice/snow storm. I was readmitted to hospital for 2 days to monitor bleeding. bleeding stopped. hemoglobin dropped to 8 again and then came back up to 8.6 when they released me
3) that was 10 days ago. hemoglobin is now 9.4. i am having blood work done every 5 days to check progress. they do not think i will get to 13 any time soon, bu they do what me above 11.
4) i get verry tired and still get some nausa due to anemia. i am taking iron pills to help
The good news is i saw my GI doctor who was very pleased with the surgery. he said the surgeon's report said there we no othe signs of chron's in my tract. Once I gain some weight back and get my hemoglobin numbers up, he will start me on 6pm to help keep things in remission as long as possible. he feels we made the right decision to do surgery. He does have concerns abot my blood levels and why it is taking some long to get numbers back up. Any ideas from the group????
thanks for everyone's thoughts. BTW, i am a 47 yr old male who has has CD for 13 yrs. the last 6 months have been bad. i wish i did the surgery when i was in hospital with blockage last fall. i spent 6 months trying to not have surgery when it is really the best thing for me given where the strictures were located. My advice to all is be fully informed when talking to your dr.