Hi all - new to this forum but sadly not to Crohn's. Glad to have found you guys though, and have been having quite an afternoon of reading.
Bit of background on me - I was diagnosed 13 years ago at age 17 after 6 months of symptoms. I understand that's a pretty speedy timescale: I was lucky enough to have a warm, interested and tenacious GP at the time. When I was diagnosed they confirmed I had a stricture and things have been pretty up and down since. At the start I had long stretches on prednisolone and also a couple of decent stretches of remission. I've been on the low flex diet for two distinct periods and a whole gambit of other drugs like mercaptopurine (I really don't remember the names of all of them!!)
On 1st April 2007, in what was becoming a recurrent pattern, I was admitted to A&E due to persistent vomiting that would not stop, but unlike the other times I did not go home 12 hours later. I was admitted with the intention of surgery but was told I wasn't in a particularly safe state for it, so instead was put on an ng tube. Some 5 weeks later they actually operated (I had switched from the tube to shakes after a week thankfully!). I had an ileocecal resection losing about 20cm of small intestine, the valve and the first part of my large intestine.
All was well for about 8 months (in fact all was fantastic!!) and then it wasn't. Symptoms restarted but this time withe more emphasis on D than V (although thankfully with less pain than I remembered from before). Different drugs were tried (I forget the names - sorry), different tests were completed and eventually after not much luck with anything else and a few ups and downs, I started on humira in Jan 2011. I was then pretty well for about 18 months and then things started to deteriorate again. Many months, tests, and a couple of balloon dilations later I sit before you all with a shiny new(ish) stricture, a bowel-bowel fistula and staring down the barrel towards my second op.
To say I'm a little nervous would be understating. I've sort of forgotten what the first one was like. I do remember feeling just amazingly well afterwards so that buoys me, and a lot of people seem to have this done laparoscopically now which I think I feel better about. But still, I'm nervous.
I say staring down the barrel; really it's not planned til January (its quite nice that this time is planned). But I wasn't expecting it to be this soon. I thought optimistically that I might get another couple of years in. But no, said the doc today, now is the time.
Right now my only real question is did any of you find your second surgery more easy going than your first?
Other than that I just really want to say hi, and thanks for existing and being here!!
Bit of background on me - I was diagnosed 13 years ago at age 17 after 6 months of symptoms. I understand that's a pretty speedy timescale: I was lucky enough to have a warm, interested and tenacious GP at the time. When I was diagnosed they confirmed I had a stricture and things have been pretty up and down since. At the start I had long stretches on prednisolone and also a couple of decent stretches of remission. I've been on the low flex diet for two distinct periods and a whole gambit of other drugs like mercaptopurine (I really don't remember the names of all of them!!)
On 1st April 2007, in what was becoming a recurrent pattern, I was admitted to A&E due to persistent vomiting that would not stop, but unlike the other times I did not go home 12 hours later. I was admitted with the intention of surgery but was told I wasn't in a particularly safe state for it, so instead was put on an ng tube. Some 5 weeks later they actually operated (I had switched from the tube to shakes after a week thankfully!). I had an ileocecal resection losing about 20cm of small intestine, the valve and the first part of my large intestine.
All was well for about 8 months (in fact all was fantastic!!) and then it wasn't. Symptoms restarted but this time withe more emphasis on D than V (although thankfully with less pain than I remembered from before). Different drugs were tried (I forget the names - sorry), different tests were completed and eventually after not much luck with anything else and a few ups and downs, I started on humira in Jan 2011. I was then pretty well for about 18 months and then things started to deteriorate again. Many months, tests, and a couple of balloon dilations later I sit before you all with a shiny new(ish) stricture, a bowel-bowel fistula and staring down the barrel towards my second op.
To say I'm a little nervous would be understating. I've sort of forgotten what the first one was like. I do remember feeling just amazingly well afterwards so that buoys me, and a lot of people seem to have this done laparoscopically now which I think I feel better about. But still, I'm nervous.
I say staring down the barrel; really it's not planned til January (its quite nice that this time is planned). But I wasn't expecting it to be this soon. I thought optimistically that I might get another couple of years in. But no, said the doc today, now is the time.
Right now my only real question is did any of you find your second surgery more easy going than your first?
Other than that I just really want to say hi, and thanks for existing and being here!!
