Hello!
So to start off, I was diagnosed with Crohn's Disease when I was 9 years old. I had a rough childhood dealing with Crohn's and was on a variety of different medications, such as Pentasa (Mesalamine), Imuran (Azathioprine), Remicade, and prednisone.
Four years later when I was about 12, I began to hear gurgling noises coming from my stomach, but experienced no pain. Both me and my parents were unsure of what this could mean, but it wasn't an emergency, so I waited until my next gastro appointment. When I told him about the noises, his hypothesis was that I had a stricture, which is a narrowing passage in the intestinal tract (for those who don't know). I had some blood work taken, and was ordered to receive a barium swallow, and a normal x-ray of the area. The results came back that I did have a narrowing passage (stricture). My doctor increased my dosage of Remicade, which made me and my parents uneasy since we are still unsure of the long term effects of the drug.
A couple months later, I started having pain. This pain wasn't normal Crohn's stomach aches, it was worse. The pain was short and after a few seconds, I would hear a gurgling noise, and then the pain would go away (the food passing through the stricture). Not too much longer after that, the noise and pain started getting more severe. I would be embarrassed to sit in class because people would always question why my stomach always made those noises, and I would always just say, "I'm just hungry". Most kids that knew me caught my lie because I was VERY skinny in 8th grade and barely ate.
Soon after that, something else occurred. If I lifted up my shirt while having a stomach ache, I could see the inflamed part of my intestine sticking out in my stomach, then deflate after the pain went away. This was scary for me and my parents. Not much longer after that, I went to bed one night, but got no sleep. I yelled and got my mom up and told her I had severe pain, and that I didn't know if I could take it anymore. My mom called my gastro and took me to the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia at 1 am. When I got there, I went into Septic Shock. My body wouldn't stop shaking, and my heart rate was 140 BPM. Immediately I was taken to the PICU and was treated there for the Septic Shock until I got my surgery. The day before, my surgery, I got an MRI to get a better image of my stricture, when they found that I actually have 3 strictures.
Surgery day: I went into the room, and came out in a lot of pain at first. It just felt like a cat scratched me. Immediately I was given Morphine, and the pain went away after a few minutes. My surgery was laparoscopic, so I had 3 small cuts. I basically slept the entire rest of the day. The surgery took about 3.5 hours. The next day, I found out that I had 12 inches of my ileum removed, and had 2 strictureplasties performed, which is when the widen the stricture.
Recovery: Recovery took about 2 weeks out of school with Tylenol and not a lot of moving. Luckily for me, although I missed around 30 days of school overall from being sick and surgery, two of my teachers came to my house to teach me things that I missed from some of my classes. I passed the courses just like normal, I just had to work a little bit harder.
Although this experience for me was scary, I lived through it. Right now, at just 18 years old, I am in remission from Crohn's but am still taking Remicade every 11 weeks. Unfortunately, due to bad timing, my growth was slightly stunted because of the stricture and did not eat as much as I should have, so I am 5' 8" oppose to where my brother is 6' 2". I was told that I probably wouldn't need surgery again until I was about 23, but I'm hoping for longer. The surgery has changed my life, and I would recommend it.
Don't live in pain.
So to start off, I was diagnosed with Crohn's Disease when I was 9 years old. I had a rough childhood dealing with Crohn's and was on a variety of different medications, such as Pentasa (Mesalamine), Imuran (Azathioprine), Remicade, and prednisone.
Four years later when I was about 12, I began to hear gurgling noises coming from my stomach, but experienced no pain. Both me and my parents were unsure of what this could mean, but it wasn't an emergency, so I waited until my next gastro appointment. When I told him about the noises, his hypothesis was that I had a stricture, which is a narrowing passage in the intestinal tract (for those who don't know). I had some blood work taken, and was ordered to receive a barium swallow, and a normal x-ray of the area. The results came back that I did have a narrowing passage (stricture). My doctor increased my dosage of Remicade, which made me and my parents uneasy since we are still unsure of the long term effects of the drug.
A couple months later, I started having pain. This pain wasn't normal Crohn's stomach aches, it was worse. The pain was short and after a few seconds, I would hear a gurgling noise, and then the pain would go away (the food passing through the stricture). Not too much longer after that, the noise and pain started getting more severe. I would be embarrassed to sit in class because people would always question why my stomach always made those noises, and I would always just say, "I'm just hungry". Most kids that knew me caught my lie because I was VERY skinny in 8th grade and barely ate.
Soon after that, something else occurred. If I lifted up my shirt while having a stomach ache, I could see the inflamed part of my intestine sticking out in my stomach, then deflate after the pain went away. This was scary for me and my parents. Not much longer after that, I went to bed one night, but got no sleep. I yelled and got my mom up and told her I had severe pain, and that I didn't know if I could take it anymore. My mom called my gastro and took me to the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia at 1 am. When I got there, I went into Septic Shock. My body wouldn't stop shaking, and my heart rate was 140 BPM. Immediately I was taken to the PICU and was treated there for the Septic Shock until I got my surgery. The day before, my surgery, I got an MRI to get a better image of my stricture, when they found that I actually have 3 strictures.
Surgery day: I went into the room, and came out in a lot of pain at first. It just felt like a cat scratched me. Immediately I was given Morphine, and the pain went away after a few minutes. My surgery was laparoscopic, so I had 3 small cuts. I basically slept the entire rest of the day. The surgery took about 3.5 hours. The next day, I found out that I had 12 inches of my ileum removed, and had 2 strictureplasties performed, which is when the widen the stricture.
Recovery: Recovery took about 2 weeks out of school with Tylenol and not a lot of moving. Luckily for me, although I missed around 30 days of school overall from being sick and surgery, two of my teachers came to my house to teach me things that I missed from some of my classes. I passed the courses just like normal, I just had to work a little bit harder.
Although this experience for me was scary, I lived through it. Right now, at just 18 years old, I am in remission from Crohn's but am still taking Remicade every 11 weeks. Unfortunately, due to bad timing, my growth was slightly stunted because of the stricture and did not eat as much as I should have, so I am 5' 8" oppose to where my brother is 6' 2". I was told that I probably wouldn't need surgery again until I was about 23, but I'm hoping for longer. The surgery has changed my life, and I would recommend it.
Don't live in pain.
