Chris is colon (and UC) free!

surgery went great. took about 6 hours, most of which was disecting the colon from all the little blood vessles and nerves that were connected to it. he's been pretty out of it on the morphine and in a little (sometimes a lot) of pain between doses. there's been a little seepage from his hiney and the drain in his abdomen, perfectly normal. the two med students that watched the surgery came out wide-eyed and said they learned a lot. i just traded out with the hubby so i could come home and take a nap because i couldn't sleep last night between worring about him pulling out some tube or another (he's hardly touched them) and the nurses coming and going. so far i've been very pleased with his treatment. they were able to do the ileo-anal anastamosis so his plumbing is all hooked-up but wont be used until at least monday, though he's already compiling a list of all the things he wants to eat and drink. it'll be a month or more before he has much controll of his BM's. his surgeon said the mucosectomy was complete and so the rectal stump will not produce any ulcers. he also said the surgery was one of his best of this sort. i'm sure we have a long way to go yet, but so far so good, and we are very happy with our decision to go ahead with the surgery.

thank you all for the well wishes, and i'll try to get back on here in the next couple of days to let you all know how things are progressing.

Veronica

What great news! I'll be keeping my fingers crossed that his recovery is quick and complication-free. It's amazing how resilient kids are and how much more quickly they heal!

Excellent news! He sounds like he already feels better since he's compiling a "list" of foods he wants to eat! Kids are so resilient!

Best wishes for him and your family. May your life be peaceful and healthy.

Glad to hear all went well!

I'm so glad that everything went well and he is already making a list of foods to eat! Great news :)

his GI tract is already functioning (moving some little bubbles and other stuff right along) less than 24 hours post surgery. it's increadible really. he's been feeling much better this afternoon/evening, much less pain and has been sitting up playing with his legos and stickers and blowing bubbles and even walked around a little. he's pretty cranky and hungry which is understandable but he's finally got the IV nutrition going so should feel even better by tomorrow.
he has no ostomy, though it was a possibility and would have made recovery a little easier (he'd be able to eat), but would have meant another surgery down the road, so i'm glad they didn't have to do that. he's not going to have any food or drink until monday and i'm sure they'll want to keep him a few days after that just to make sure things are going right. i hope that he'll regain enough BM control to maybe go back to school for some half days by the end of the month, probably not likely but we'll just have to wait and see. he does surprise me all the time.

killcolitis: i don't know all the details of your daughter's situation, but i want to tell you to not be afraid of the surgery and to give it some serious consideration. if you don't like what one surgeon tells you then go find another until you find what you're looking for. they all have different approaches. keep in mind that the younger and healthier she is, the better her surgical options and recovery/adaptation will be.


to anyone who is suffering with this terrible disease and is unable to find reasonable relief through whatever you consider reasonable treatments, look at surgery with an open mind. it is not giving up, it is a cure.

It just breaks my heart to see a child suffer like he has...happy to hear he is on the way out of that suffering!

Thank you Veronica form letting us know how well Chris is doing after his surgery. I'm pleased to hear that he had it all done in one process.

This was obviously the right decision. Please let us know how he progresses once he starts eating and getting back to normal everyday life.

Take care of yourself too!

quincy

How wonderful, wishing little  Chris a full and speedy recovery. Can he have a big chocolate ice-cream for me!!!

chris is still doing well. had a little hang up yesterday with some vomiting, but that seems to have passed and he's feeling tons better today. the pain is getting less severe and less frequent and he's been up and walking around a bit. keeping our fingers crossed that he'll be able to start eating and drinking tomorrow and be able to go home by the end of the week. we are all sleeping through the night better too.

Glad to hear everything went well. I'm sure your little boy will enjoy being a kid again, and not a UC sufferer.

Keep us posted.

So glad he is doing well!