u/jauntio

I just wanted to share a little bit of my experience with needing to get a small bowel resection. For context I’m a 20 y/old male, and was diagnosed with Crohn’s in October of last year. After failing Stelara and Rinvoq not helping as much as it should, my GI doctor decided it would be best for me to get a resection.

I had the operation on Monday 6/1 at NYU Langone, and although I was nervous leading up to it, the actual procedure itself went very smoothly. I had ~12 inches of my terminal ilium removed, with no need for an ostomy or anything of the sort. (They also took out my appendix, guess it was easier that way). It’s worth noting that this was a laparoscopic procedure, done with the DaVinci robot. Afterwards the surgeon said a “no wonder meds weren’t working for you with how inflamed and scarred it was” kind of thing. Which was in a sense relieving to know I had done the right thing.

Not going to lie the day of and day after were incredibly painful. A bunch of pain meds, such as Dilaudid, weren’t having any effect on me, and it wasn’t until about 28 hours after I woke up when they gave me Toradol that the pain started to get under control. That was kind of the breaking point though, as it was relatively smooth sailing since then. I was released from the hospital on Thursday, and have only needed to take Tylenol for the pain since. We’re 8 days out and not going to lie, I’m feeling great. Sticking to a low fiber diet, but it’s such a nice feeling knowing that I can eat without worrying that it’s going to hurt.

I’m getting emotional just writing this, it’s been such a battle since I started experiencing symptoms last year. I cannot thank the team at NYU enough for how well everything went. And, acknowledging that everyone’s situation is different, it’s such a relief to know I 100% made the right choice for me. Knock on wood, hoping for a pain free foreseeable future.

For anyone who’s read this far, and who may need to hear this, this disease sucks. There’s no ifs ands or buts about it. But you are stronger than you may feel, and as little as it may mean I’m proud of everyone here for getting through each day, and I feel confident that I can say this feeling is reciprocated in so many of us here.