what are your feelings about the colon being removed


Posted by: Jennifer , Jan 19,2010,18:02  


I have not been on here for several years. My son Travis was CD diagnosed 13 years ago, had a resection 7 years ago. He has been on 40 mg of Humira which has kept him fairly stable. He came home from college for Christmas and saw his gastro dr. The doctor wanted to do a cat scan before he went back to school. We had it done last week, it was abnormal, then came a colonoscopy that determined the disease was very active. Off to the hospital we go, clear liquid diet and tons of meds.5 days later we are ready to go home, dr did one more cat scan just to make sure all is well. The scan showed a tear in the colon, not there with the last scan. His gastro is not surgery happy and wants to try a drain inserted in the colon to see if the colon will repair itself. We had that done this morning. If it does not work we have to remove the colon and he will have an ileostomy. Has anyone else been here with Crohn's Disease. I would appreciate any information. Thank you. Jennifer

Replies:
Re: what are your feelings about the colon being removed

Re : what are your feelings about the colon being removed --- Jennifer
Posted by: kmap , Jan 22,2010,19:06 Top of Thread


my son has had his colon removed and currently has a j-pouch.
i would be happy to answer any questions you might want to ask
my e-mail is kmap@sbcglobal.net

Re: what are your feelings about the colon being removed

Re : what are your feelings about the colon being removed --- Jennifer
Posted by: Emilys mommy , Jan 21,2010,08:16 Top of Thread


Our situ is a bit different than yours, given that Emily had UC and not Crohns. We did all the drugs and treatments for almost a year with no results so we really didn't have much of a choice.

That said, if I would have known how much better Emily was after the surgery then I would have done it on day 1. The bag wasn't the best thing do deal with, but we all got used to it. Pros definitely out-weighed the cons. Luckily, Emily just had her takedown in December and now things are back to "some-what normal."

My guess would be that with Crohns the concern is that it will become active in a different region. Has he had any issues with the small intestines?



Re: what are your feelings about the colon being removed

Re : what are your feelings about the colon being removed --- Jennifer
Posted by: Becky G , Jan 19,2010,23:24 Top of Thread


My son elected to have his colon removed last summer. He is 24 and had been diagnosed 7 years ago before. He was tired of all the drugs, side effects of drugs and not being able to get into a full remission. He was ready to move on with his life and not worry about when the next big flare would occur.

To be honest, on most days he really hates the bag. There is definitely an adjustment period. But he wishes he had make the decision earlier so that he could have had those lost years back.

Fortunately he has a very supportive girlfriend who doesn't seem to be bothered by it - she is just so happy to have him healthy and energetic again. We all are....

Please don't hesitate to let me know if you have any questions or just need to vent.