7 YRS OLD AND SURGERY
Wed, February 18, 2009 9:34 AM
My son is 7 and was diagnosed with Crohns when he was 5 yrs old. We have tried everything Remicade our last resort and after 11 infusions finding it is not helping now his GI doc talking surgery I go next week to talk to a surgeon anyone have advice, I am alittle scared about the surgery but really there is nothing else for us to try for him this point. His disease is steriod dependent and recently has had severe joint pain in his knees that they tell me is because of his disease. I do alot of reearch on line and by reading books so I know alittle about the surgery my concern is how long is the hospital stay and the recovery time at home. If anyone has any info that can help me I will appreciate it thank you..
Joined Nov 20, 2008
Mon, February 23, 2009 1:00 AM
Reply posted for son seth.
Hello! My 13 year old daughter had to have a small bowel resection on Jan.2, 2009, after failing treatments of Remicade. She was diagnosed with Crohn's at age 10 and was on at least 10 different meds over the past 3 years.A 12 inch stricture turned into an obstruction and needed to be removed. The surgery was performed using a laproscopic assist technique-they also removed the ileocecal valve as well as her appendix-her incision is very minimal; approx. 4 inches long. The pediatric surgeon at the hospital my child was admitted to was not trained to perform laproscopic tecniques and he would have had to do a vertical mid-line incision approx. 8-9 inches! I found a surgeon at another facility who was willing to do the resection using lap-tech., and we had my daughter transferred out for the surgery. She recovered very well-only 5 days in the hospital and was back to school in less than 2 weeks post-op!! We recently weaned off prednisone only to have a bloody stool the next day. Our GI doctor has not re-started any meds as of yet, but I'm anxious about her not being on any maintenance meds and am currently seeking 2nd and 3rd opinions about how she should be treated after resection! Good Luck with your little one-I know it is very difficult and scary for us to make these decisions for our children-but , yes, they are very resilient-hopefully he will feel much better after the surgery. Take care!
Joined Dec 5, 2008
Wed, February 18, 2009 3:55 PM
Reply posted for son seth.
I remember when my GI first suggested I have a bowel resection I had the same questions and found it difficult to find answers online of what to expect!
I too only found relief from Crohns from steroids, despite all of the drawbacks of them!
I cannot stress enough the importance of making sure your child is given a medication to counteract the steroids prior to the surgery!
A routine surgery would be about a 3-5 day stay in the hospital (so my surgeon said..). I was on a PCA pump for pain. (a handheld button is used to self inject pain medication (I had morpine)...it isnt possible to over medicate yourself since it is on a timer and will only dispense medication at set intervals (like every 5-7 minutes depending on what your surgeon allows).
Food intake is limited to nothing for at least the first 24 hours, then gradually increases to liquids, then to solids as tolerated.
As for care at home and recovery. Everyone is different! I am 37 years old and, unfortunately, had many complications with my surgery. Children tend to be much more resiliant!!
Hope this helps!
Joined Feb 18, 2009
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