Abscess recovery

I went through the same thing but with a smaller abscess at the 12 o'clock position. I thought it was a flare up of UC. It got so bad I could barely walk and was writhing in pain in bed. My GI found the abscess and sent me off to the colorectal surgeon.

I had it incised the first time and it immediately felt a lot better. It came back a while later and was incised again. I was then scheduled for an inspection under anesthesia. They had already figured out it had fistulized prior to the surgery, they just needed to make sure there were no other fistula tracts. They opened up the fistula tract while they were in there. Luckily it was very shallow. Unbelievably painful after that surgery. I'm sure you already know you have a 50% chance of the abscess fistulizing from googling.

I found several piping hot baths to be the only relief I got for the first week or so. After that, the pain was not too bad. Make sure the tub is clean. I scrubbed it with bleach often. I don't think the sitz baths on the toilet do much. They are too shallow and don't stay hot. You can look into a bidet attachment from amazon. Several people suggested them in the past. If I ever get another abscess I think I will buy one. In your case, this may be the best option so you are not bathing 8 times a day.

In the beginning you are afraid your life will forever be ruined but it gets better, trust me.

My question for you is, did you have any indication leading up to this that you had a giant abscess? I am always worried I have another one brewing.

No indication that was one forming... just a pain that I thought was a hemorrhoid, even though I couldn't see one in the mirror. Even the resulting abscess did not show up on the skin, but I sure as hell felt it! I had been doing a lot of probiotic enemas over the past previous weeks and I'm considering that maybe I nicked the bowel when inserting it, or something like that.

I've also had a UC flare for 9 months now, and I've been on prednisone the entire time. That could also be a factor.

I have no money right now so buying a bidet attachment is not an option. I will just keep doing the sits baths and maybe have an actual bath once a day.

Do you know if it's OK to put stuff inside the cavity? On one website a doctor recommended putting diluted wild oil of oregano in there to kill the infection. She said it will prevent it from fistulizing.

The guy who did the surgery was a colorectal doctor. In theory if I ever get a colectomy he will be the one doing it.

Chiron,

sorry youre going through this. I've had several that turned into multiple fistulas resulting in 7 surgeries and a 6 week hospital stay. I've been through it all.

Are you on biologics? a 9 month flare treated with only pred, isn't enough to keep inflammation at bay. Uncontrolled inflammation leads to fistulas. This is the time for very aggressive meds that can keep a fistula from forming and trust me, you do not want a fistula!

After every bm rinse with a warm water spray. A squeeze bottle is adequate. And try and have a sitz bath a few times. Sit on an inflatable donut to help reduce pressure and swelling.
I've read about inserting WOO into the cavity but I never figured out how to do it, unless you have someone to do it for you. It also burns like the dickens so I wasn't that keen anyway. I do wipe my fistulas (or abscess) with tea tree oil or WOO if I have any, but I've never inserted. I'd suggest stopping the probiotic enemas as you could have got an infection from that.

I'd absolutely implore you to get a CRS and try biologics if you aren't on any. A fistula can develop within a few weeks so do what you can to prevent it.

Based on the size of the abscess, it did not start forming recently. It has probably been there for a while. It may explain why I was starting to get out of this flare but then got worse. I also accepted an FMT that might've infected me.

The surgery team said that unpacking and repacking the wound is old school and there's not much evidence that it speeds healing. I looked up anal abscesses on Wikipedia and it says the same thing. This surgeon is the best in my city and if he didn't feel ongoing packing was necessary then I defer to him. However I feel like I need to put something in it to really keep it healing, like salt water in a little syringe. I'm just not sure what I'm "allowed" to do, they didn't elaborate on a lot of self-care. They said sitz baths twice a day and antibiotics were enough.

I am on Entyvio but it's not working anymore. It sort of worked for 6-8 months now it barely does anything. They have run out of options for me. I don't want bowel surgery but if this continues to go on and on I'll have no choice.

The abscess surgery kicked my flare into high gear. I was functional beforehand, now I can't get out of bed and there is a lot of bowel bleeding.

notsosicklygirl said...
take it easy and give yourself time to heal. I wouldn't take on anything even remotely physical. I understand not wanting bowel surgery, no one wants it, but you do need to keep in mind that it could be a relief if it gives you long term improvement. I got so tired of the drugs and the doctors, but it's not all positive of course. We all want to be 100% without surgery & without drugs.... I wish it was that simple. Get better, take hot sitz baths and get lots of rest. Try to remember that surgery isn't the end of the world if it comes to that, but I am sure it won't, so don't stress about it.

In my hospital room there was a guy next to me who just had take-down surgery for his j-pouch and he told me a lot about what brought him to that. He said that he was 52, and still too young to have a bag! I thought it was impressive that he had such a young spirit. I have to admit that I was scared of surgery but being put under for the abscess made the whole process seem not so horrible. My colon is becoming a constant nightmare organ and it's making me start to hate my own body instead of being positive and trying to heal it.

He told me that I should do sitz baths more than twice per day. He said when he had an abscess drained he did a sitz bath after every BM. That's hard for me because I am having 10+ BMs per day a lot of which require me to lay down right after because I get dizzy and nauseous. I just don't have it in me to sit up a lot right now.