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Hello, my name is Erin. I am a 27yr old with a solid two years of nothing but pain and weight loss. Things are really starting to turn around, I've got some great new doctors, another diagnosis (Crohns plus IBS, who's have thought) but I am still having pain in my lower right-hand side. All of my colonoscopies, CT Scans, MRIs have come back clean and now my Dr has scheduled me for exploratory surgery? Has anyone had experience with this? What are the possible things left to find when everything else appears normal? What is the recovery time like? I'm worried whether it is worth the risk. My pain is manageable but constant and I have multiple clotting disorders and have had everything from strep to C-diff to staff in the last 3 months.

 Reply posted for tricksie3.

Hi Erin,
I just had exploratory surgery 3 weeks ago. I did not have any symptoms other than some abdominal pain and some weight loss.  Everything else was normal for me (out the back end) and I'm a pretty healthy guy.  Never been to the hospital, no meds, etc. 

They thought I might have cancer.  All the tests showed an enlarged small intestine but typical Crohn's tests came back negative.  So I was nervous.  The next step was exploratory surgery.  I don't like that word.  This all went down from my initial visit to the doctor with some stomach pain to surgery in about 4 weeks total time.  The surgery was Laproscopic (i.e., 3 small incisions).  They were going to do a biopsy in real time.  Once they opened me up, there was no need.  It was obvious to the surgeon that this was Crohn's.  I was months away from a full bowel obstruction.  So he cut out 3 feet of bowel through a 4-5 in incision above the belly button.

I was in the hospital 5 days, home for 3 weeks, and back to work on week 4 (this coming Monday).  I only take Advil once in awhile.  No stitches just staples where they did the re-connect inside.  They used Steri-Strips (tape) which fall off in 2 weeks time.  No stomach pain.  Now just have to mange it (Crohn's).  The pathology report came back with the Crohn's diagnosis.

I was very much looking forward to the surgery to alleviate my pain.  The surgery did just that.  I'm glad I went through with it but do not want to do it again.  Best of luck to you..

 Reply posted for jen3.

Recovery is 6-8 weeks. It has taken me 2 weeks to be able to walk around and have little pain. However things didn't go great with me from the start. I had an epidural that sprung a leak the day after the surgery so the pain management was not there and I suffered a lot. I think it slowed my healing. I was given morphine, percocet and oxycontin. I am now only taking ibuprofen and feel OK. I tire easily and have to take it very easy. The doc said it will be at least 2 months before I go back to work, but bear in mind I have a physical job being a paramedic. I do a lot of heavy lifting. The incision is 4 inches starting at my belly button and straight down. I had 15 staples and they are all removed now. 7 taken out a week after, 8 taken out 2 weeks after. I had a lot of discharge coming from the incision so had to chg my dressings often but this doesn't happen with everyone. The changes I have noticed since the surgery are colour back in my face, crystal clear skin, and whiter whites of my eyes, and the dark circles are lessening. Basically I am starting to not look like a sick person anymore, which is what the Crohn's did to me.

 Reply posted for tricksie3.

I am not sure how you were diagnosed with Crohn's if all of your tests came back clean. Please explain. For me all of my tests also came back inconclusive, and then my colonoscopy showed non specific inflammation. I had a cat scan, ultra sound, x-ray, a scope, the works. I suffered for 3 years with several different doctors dismissing me as an IBS case because I had no diarrhea ever at all. Following my surgery it was discovered my severe constipation was due to a blockage in my colon and it was indeed Crohn's causing my problems. If it wasn't for the surgery I would not have known this.

After ending up in the emergency room 3 weeks ago, I had the surgery 4 days later which was an exploratory laparotomy. Not only now do I know exactly what is wrong with me and where and how much, etc etc, I have the satisfaction that now I finally know what is wrong with me, and can figure out what to do to treat it. I am 2 weeks out from the surgery and it was painful but I do not regret it. My doc was able to remove all of the Crohn's from my bowel (26 cm of small bowel, 6 cm large bowel). I am now disease free, and it may last quite a while. I finally feel normal, even post surgery. I go to the bathroom like a normal person and eat like one too. In the mean time I am going to start some prophylactic medications but I don't know what yet. I haven't had my appt with the GI doc yet because I just received my official diagnosis today from the pathology report. Please let me know if you have any other questions.

Jen