HealingWell
Search Close Search
☰

new surgery date!!! so nervous!!!!

Support Forums
>
Ostomies
✚ New Topic ✚ Reply
❬ ❬ Previous Thread |Next Thread ❭ ❭
Posted 7/10/2012 4:25 PM (GMT 0)
wow i just posted like yesterday about having surgery after my wedding but i have been going downhill ever since and cannot even leave my house or get off of the toilet with severe UC pain and going to the restroom and prednisone is beginning to fail me and its my only hope to even eating .... sooooo..... i called and the surgeon revealed a cancellation for surgery on August 1!!!! so soon and only five weeks before my wedding on september 8!!! i have such mixed emotions... will i be well enough to have my wedding on sept 8??? how will the honeymoon be??? is this too much too fast??? what if there are complications??? even with all the questions me and my fiance are ecstatic that i will be on my way to true recovery very soon!!!! what do you guys think????
Posted 7/10/2012 6:33 PM (GMT 0)
You are talking colectomy, right? 5 weeks after my colectomy (and I had no complications and did quite well with food intake etc.), I could do long walks in the woods (one hour) and walked around an old town with a friend for an afternoon, ate cake, talked and laughed, sat by a lake and walked some more. I was also doing perscribed sport-therapy exercises that did me a lot of good, could walk fairly fast and do stairs.
So you will not go waterskiing on your honey moon, but I would guess that your wedding night could be just as nice as you could want.
If there are complications and you need to stay in the hospital longer, 5 weeks may still be enough time for you to be just fit enough for the wedding and you won't need to postpone. Just remember - everything can go just as you want but you will be taking it much much more easy than if you had had no surgery. But that in itself is still much more promising that possibly having your wedding in the middle of a flare.
You are doing the right thing. Take it one day at a time.
Posted 7/10/2012 7:15 PM (GMT 0)
     Oh wow, in my opinion you are between a rock and a hard place (nicely put).  That is cutting it very close.  Isn't there SOMETHING your GI doctor can do????  With the possibilities of complications, I wouldn't want to risk having the surgery so close to your wedding date.  Our daughter is getting married Sept. 29th and we are putting a bundle out on a reception.  But, then again, you don't want to be so ill you wouldn't be able to walk down the aisle either rolleyes .

     I am sooo glad I had this operation two years ago because we are dealing with family problems with this wedding.  Our oldest daughter was "supposed" to be matron of honor.  Well, she and her sister have butted heads all their lives.  The oldest one decided to get married (2nd time around) in Vegas last week.  How we found out...Facebook...nice huh?  To add insult to injury, she told us on Saturday, her and new hubby are planning a reception in AUGUST!!!  Anything to steal her sister's thunder.  Other problems arose and bottom line...she is OUT of her sister's wedding.  Boy!!!! Am I glad I had that operation.  With this stress, I would surely be in the hospital. 

       Hope you get more input as to your dilemma.

Posted 7/10/2012 7:26 PM (GMT 0)
As Christine said, you are between a rock and a hard place. That said, I think a lot of the people here who had a colectomy without having their rectum removed did a lot better.

I had my first surgery in November and had a procotcolectomy with permanent ileostomy. The recovery was really tough for me, but the hardest part was the rectum removal aspect because that portion was open, and from what my surgeon said, much more risky and time consuming. My surgery (and length under anesthesia) was eight hours. I believe the colectomy part was only three of that. Being under anesthesia that long really kicked my butt, and I honestly didn't feel even remotely energetic until at least 7-8 weeks post op.

I had surgery again in May, and this time I was only under for 1.5 hours. This time I had my stoma relocated to the left side. I felt GREAT energy wise within a week. What a difference.

So, I guess what I am trying to say is, I wouldn't go for everything at once. Have your colectomy and deal with everything else later. More than likely you'll be feeling fine for your wedding and honeymoon pending no major complications.
Posted 7/10/2012 8:07 PM (GMT 0)
If you've been on a lot of pred, that does delay healing some. I had an abscess a week after I got out of the hospital. My surgeon said it's common, and if I hadn't been on pred, she could have handled it outpatient, but instead she came in at 10:30 pm, not even wanting to wait til morning, and I was in the hospital for a few more days.

Bottom line is that it's really hard to plan how long recovery is going to take. On the other hand, it must be pretty hard to expect things to work out w/your wedding when you are so sick now.

I was a heck of a lot better five weeks after surgery than I was five weeks before, though.... sounds like you have a better shot at being ready w/the surgery than without.

Any chance a sooner cancellation might come along?

Have you talked about pred and surgery? I had to taper from 40 mg to 20 mg in two weeks to get ready for my surgery.

Do you have a plan B in case you are too sick for the official wedding date? It might be helpful to think through this, even though hopefully you won't have to go there....

I know this is hard, but you've got a great relationship and you're going to get much healthier soon. So, it would really, really be a drag if the wedding couldn't go on as scheduled -- inconvenient, losing money, disappointing, etc.... but in the long run the love and the health are what matters, and you can reconfigure the details....

my two cents.
Posted 7/10/2012 8:22 PM (GMT 0)
don't know what surgery you are having. But if its just the colectomy, you should probably be ok. You may not have tons of energy, you may still be on pain drugs, but seems like 5 weeks should be ok for a wedding.

The biggest thing though is that I think you need to make sure all of your wedding details are completely off of your plate prior to surgery and make sure someone else is handling them. You need to be stress free for your recovery.

In the big scheme of things, your health right now is critical and you need to do whatever can be done to get it back on track. So go for that surgery, hope for the best, and if your wedding date needs to change.. so be it. You will be regaining your health.
Posted 7/11/2012 12:30 AM (GMT 0)
Thanks so much guys! Your input is so informative. Im really goin for it i know but i really dont think i could make it without the surgery since ya cant stay on pred forever maxed dose! I really am optimistic about it. Just praying for proper recovery! Thanks!!!
Posted 7/11/2012 12:54 AM (GMT 0)
dbtennessee:

First, stop worrying about your wedding day..it's one day..your marriage is for the rest of your life.

Second, if you haven't been on prednisone "long" (e.g., more than a year or two), you should recover well from surgery. But, the true recovery time from a colectomy is 6 months to two years (the time it takes to feel 100% again). Again, if not on prednisone for long, you should be in the 6 month crowd.

It is nerve wrecking....but, just imagine like I did, getting up out of bed after surgery, and not worrying about where the bathroom is...

turn

You will be fine after surgery......don't fret about the wedding...if your fiancee loved you enough to ask you to marry him with UC, a few months after surgery he will forget about the wedding (or whatever happened on that day) and be happy to have you back with him (instead of in the bathroom).

God Bless and many happy days after surgery!

yeah
Posted 7/11/2012 1:07 AM (GMT 0)
DB!

MUCH APOLOGIES - I read your earlier thread..****! You are a guy!

Most of the folks on here are women so I just assumed....please forgive!

Just replace words in my post to match!

Again, God Bless and much happy days after surgery!
Posted 7/11/2012 1:55 AM (GMT 0)
     I don't understand all this proctocolectomy stuff.  My rectum was the culprit, so when that went so did the rest of the colon.  They won't leave the colon in with a diseased rectum.  I still have my anus intact.  My surgeon's theory being there are more complications when that is sewn closed.  I saw him today (over two years post op) because I have those annoying skin tags hanging out the anus rolleyes .  I was just concerned if they were a precancerous problem.  He said, "No way".  To remove them would be very painful.  So, he told me to try hemorrhoid ointment on them or stick with the Calmoseptine.  Today, they aren't bothering me much.  I think it was just psychological about the cancer notion.  Granny died from cancer of the rectum and guess I am just a tad paranoid.

     Anyway, the best of luck to you in health and your marriage!

Posted 7/11/2012 2:31 AM (GMT 0)
dbtennessee,

It sounds like you are in a pretty bad place right now. I cannot imagine the worry of facing your wedding while being this sick. You may not have a ton of energy five weeks after surgery but you will be healthy and compared to how you feel now you will be in such a better place. I think it is the best decision you can make.
Posted 7/11/2012 2:31 PM (GMT 0)
You are wise to want to get off pred as soon as you can -- it's nasty stuff, w/lots of potential long term issues. I got to the point where it was the only drug that worked (and it didn't even work that well), and my docs said no way was it a long term solution. It was surgery or experimental drugs.

So great to not have to wake up every morning feeling like I can't function until I get my pred "fix."
Posted 7/11/2012 8:52 PM (GMT 0)
Blueglass that is exactly where i am right now, until the pred kicks in the morning i just have to weather the storm for about an hour, in the bathroom about 15+ times until. Im a prisoner wihout pred and it wears off at night to where i go abou 3-5 times a night. Theres no way to keep on like this! And thank you all for your support and info! Its amazing to be able to talk with folks who really live with it!!! I will keep you posted on here and my blog!
Posted 7/14/2012 2:51 AM (GMT 0)
db

If you postponed your surgery until after your wedding, do you really think you could make it up the aisle with all the attention on you and your bride without a "problem".

Dan

Posted 7/14/2012 11:35 AM (GMT 0)
Db,

what you describe sounds like me before surgery. Do you have to maintain your pred dose until surgery? My doctor gave me cyproflaxacin (sp), an antibiotic that works against diarhea, to help with the pred dose tapering before surgery. It helped a lot and caused no other side effects. I was tapering off the pred until my last dose of 2.5 mg around th 4th or 5th week after surgery. I have to add that there were withdrawal symtoms starting at week 4 - hefty exhaustion and need for sleep, but this went away after 10 days.

Let the doctor tell you how to start tapering off. Follow those directions. Have your surgery. Relax and let your body heal. Get married when you planned. At that point you will be feeling an amazingly different way about life because it will not be about sitting on the toilet in pain. It might be about still adjusting to the bag while you are on honeymoon, or about not having as much energy as usual before you became ill, but just imagine you will be yourself without the illness just when you are starting out your new life together with your wife. Things are getting better starting with setting the date for surgery. I know how much anxiety there is about that but I promise it is not like you are worried it will be.
Posted 7/14/2012 12:45 PM (GMT 0)
dan: no way man i wouldnt be able to stand up there at all im sure!!! the last few weeks or months even have been full of nothing but pain and occasional "accidents" and neverending toilet trips. i def feel its the right thing to do! just hopin i have enough energy and a complication free or complication minimal recovery. i work in surgery and i know how bowel surgeries can go. usually run into at least some minimal complication but as long as its manageable and i take care of myself it looks like everyone here thinks the wedding will be a success!!! thank you guys so much!

B'dereh: yea sounds like we are in the same boat! during the day while the pred is workin for a limited time i dont feel bad and start second guessin myself but ohhhh when the night and morning comes i see exactly why i HAVE to have this surgery soon!!! doc will def taper off of pred before surgery as it usually delays the healing process and well see what he says about helping manage symptoms before. thanks for the encouragement!!!
✚ New Topic ✚ Reply