Hi MT1971,

I just read a post where you mentionned that you had surgery as a result of crohn's colitis. My mother is scheduled for surgery on Thursday. She has crohn's and they are going to remove the sick part of her small intestine and then join the small and large intestine. She needs this surgery because she is very sick as a result of crohn's. She was admitted to the hospital on April 3rd and now she is home waiting to have surgery, she is still on a feeding tube as she cannot eat because of the pain and discomfort she has as a result of crohn's. I am very worried because I do not know exactly what kind of surgery this is. I have questionned her about this but she says that she does not really know all the details. I think that she is just nervous and does not want to think about it. Do you know if this is somewhat the same surgery that you had, and how long the recovery time is? Also about how long she will be in hospital ( I know that this also depends on how well the surgery goes but approximate).

Any information would be appreciated. I have tried to do a search but I don't evenknow what this surgery is called so it's kind of difficult to get any information. Would this be a resection?

Thanks,
Charline

Hi Charline

It does sound like your mother is having a bowel resection. I have not heard of the specific operation that your Mother is having i.e. joining of the small bowel to the large bowel.

It is possible that she does not actually know many details of the operation. My experience is that surgeons don't give you a lot of information, and you have to really quiz them to find out all the details.

A resection is basically cutting out the bad bits and sticking each end of the good bits back together.

The really great news is that people with Crohn's who have bowel resections have a 50% chance of not ever having symptoms ever again :)

Small bowel resections are much more common and less stressful on the body than large bowel resections and they consequently involve less time in hospital and less recuperative time is required too.

My problems and surgery were very complicated and very unusual, so if you have been reading some of my entries I can understand that you might be worried.

I cannot specially comment on the operation that your mother is having, and from what you have said it sounds quite routine. If they are joining the small and large bowel together it does sound like they might be removing the ileum which is the part of the small bowel that absorbers the most nutrients. The implications of this might affect her diet following the operation (but this is just speculation based on what you have said).

Any surgery which involves opening up the muscle walls of the chest is considered to be major surgery and does involve some element of risk. There is normally considered to be a 1 in 10000 chance of not recovering from the general anasetic. There is also (probably 1 in 5) chance that your mother will be given a temporary ileostomy (like a colostomy, but coming directly from the small intestine). This basically means that the surgeon would create a small stoma (small part of the intestine that comes through the wall of the stomach muscles to the right of the belly button). After the bowel has recovered for a few months this stoma would then be removed and the intestines rejoined - called a reversal. There is also a very small chance that the ileostomy would be permanent. Infection is always a risk (particularly when operating on the bowel), and it is fairly common to have postoperative infections. These usually respond very well to antibiotics and clear up fairly quickly.

Time in hospital will probably be between 4 - 8 days depending on how she does. Once she is on oral medication, can walk about without too much trouble, and can eat, open her bowels and urinate, she will be allowed to go home.

Recovery time is very varied and depends on how weak she is now (often the disease and drugs such as steroids can make your body very weak prior to the operation which means a longer recovery), if there are any complications (such as needing to give her an ileostomy), how well she reacts to the general anasetic and how old she is. Those in the medical profession will say that a small bowel resection will take about 3 weeks to recover from and a large bowel resection will take from 4 - 6 weeks. If you double these times, and assume by recovery they mean start to feel a bit better, you get a more realistic idea. It will probably take between 2 and 6 months before she will feel ready to go back to work (if she works now). These times are very approximate.

She will definitely feel really rubbish for a few days and then pretty rubbish for a few weeks. Ultimately she will feel a lot better which is great news.

I suggest that you think about telling her your concerns and worries. She is probably worried too and may very well then be able to tell you her concerns and share her feelings with you.

Good luck and god bless.

Mischa

Charline

How did the surgery go? How are you doing?

Mischa

Hi Mischa,

They actually rescheduled the surgery for Monday morning. I will post again Monday night to let you know how it went. Thank you so much for taking the time to reply to my question, I really appreciate it.

Charline

You are very Welcome

I really do hope that all goes well.

Mischa