suggestions before surgery
Tue, February 02, 2010 8:16 PM
Well, my son who is 19 years old, has made the difficult decision to have surgery to "cure" his UC. We've read a lot and talked with the surgeon about the surgeries. I sounds as if it's going to be a long road; however, it will be worth it in the long run. No more meds, bleeding, ugency.... yeah!!
We are wondering if any of you have suggestions for us? (Him as a patient and/or me as a parent).
Thanks for all of your support.
lfinnJoined Nov 15, 2009
Tue, February 23, 2010 6:34 PM
Reply posted for lfinn.
It will be the one decision he will make that he will never regret. 9 yr old granddaughter just completed her "last" surgery and is doing wonderful. The surgeries are long and hard but the end result is spectacular!!
Joined May 16, 2009
Mon, February 08, 2010 9:20 PM
lfinn:
please do. my email address is: stephenbsmith50@gmail.com
in the mean time, ill be saying my prayers for you and your son. i know how difficult the decision is (especially when youre laying in that sickbed just wanting it all to "just go away" like your son is), but based on my own experience its a step in the right direction; no more predisone (or other meds), no more urgency, and *** be in control of his "facilities" rather than the other way around. please tell him theres a whole big world out there just waiting for him to come and join. in fact, were going out to ski a small portion of it tomorrow (we live in the dc area). ;-)
kind regards, steve
Joined Nov 20, 2009
Sat, February 06, 2010 1:00 AM
Reply posted for lfinn.
I'm the same age as your son and reached a similar conclusion. My situation turned out to be different, but I understand the mentality nonetheless. It depends, I think, on how severe his Ulcerative Colitis is and what therapies he's tried. I'm in favor of surgery, sometimes, instead of having to take countless drugs with counterintuitive side effects. But that's my personal bias.
Joined Oct 19, 2009
Sat, February 06, 2010 1:00 AM
Reply posted for stephenbsmith50.
Thanks so much for the advice. It's very helpful. I will email you when we are closer to the surgery date.
lfinnJoined Nov 15, 2009
Tue, March 02, 2010 11:57 AM
suggestions before surgeryPrayers and best wishes to both you and your son!!! Though the path forward may appear very vague and unsure at the moment, my sincere hope is that the surgery begins the process of resolving that uncertainty and provides the dawn for a brand new day in your lives (it certainly did for me). With that said, my suggestions include:
1. He should be in the best physical shape possible to help the recovery process. Hes young and that will definitely help. I was VERY ill going into the surgery and that definitely slowed my recovery
2. Between yourself, family members, and friends, be prepared to be nursing assistants. My surgery was done in a teaching hospital and the nursing care, though excellent, was sometimes scant. Fortunately between my wife, mother, mother-in-law and friends someone was almost always there post-op to help get out of bed (they cut through all your abs!), etc
3. You should be prepared for a long wait during the surgery. They told my wife and my mom that it would be approximately 4-5 hours. I think it took twice that long (the surgeon had a difficult time stretching my small intestine down to create the j-pouch)
Thats about it for now. Ill add more if I can think of anything. When is your sons surgery scheduled? Please let me know and Ill say an extra prayer that day. Kind Regards
Joined Nov 20, 2009
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