Good morning, friends! Long time, no talk…which is completely and utterly my fault. I’m ashamed to say my last post was in FEBRURARY- yikes! Since then, tons of things have happened to me, including my college graduation (!) Unfortunately, this means the whole concept of this blog–navigating campus life with Crohn’s–may sort of be shot to hell. BUT, I am planning on refocusing this site to chronicle my journey into post-grad, young adult life, and I hope you will join me for the ride!
To entice you to do so, I happen to be returning to the blogosphere with a bit of drama up my sleeve: I am actually typing up this post from my hospital bed, where I am waiting to get surgery later today. What can I say, I just know how to come back with a bang!
Before I give you the lowdown on my intestinal woes, can we first hit pause and admire the lovely view from my hospital room window?
Cleveland, you’re looking absolutely smashing from up here!
Now on to the juicy stuff:
A few weeks ago, I noticed some mild discomfort around the scar where my ostomy used to be. It came and went every few days and was more of an itchy annoyance, so I really didn’t think about it too much. After all, this was at the tail end of my last ever semester of college and I was only focused on one thing: getting that diploma!
OH SWEET FREEDOM!
However, the discomfort got increasingly worse until it eventually morphed into a stinging pain. Once I had to resort to numbing the area with ice packs, I knew it was time to visit my surgeon. He told me I have a hernia (which is apparently a common problem for people who have/had ostomies), but the bigger and more dangerous problem is actually with my small intestine. A CT scan confirmed that the tissue between my two scars (ostomy scar and colectomy scar) is very weak, and my small intestine is getting stuck in a hole that has formed there. The scan did not determine whether or not this is being caused by a return of my Crohn’s, but they should be able to tell that during today’s surgery.
As I mentioned, my surgeon said hernias are quite common for ostomy patients. In case you want to see what a hernia looks like so you can recognize it for future reference, I snapped these incredibly attractive pictures last night:
Now I know everyone has a bit of tummy fat, myself included, but that protruding bulge is definitely a new development for me!
Pretty gross, huh?
As you can see from the pictures, the scar where my ostomy used to be is very red–my surgeon actually called it “angry-looking”–so I would definitely keep an eye out for that kind of irritation if you’re concerned about a hernia.
Even though my surgery is today, I was actually admitted a day early because, after meeting with my surgeon yesterday morning, he was worried about how much pain I was having and how irritated the area looked, so he wanted me to get another CT scan and be monitored overnight (and thank God for that, because I am loving this oxycodone. Just sayin’!). I don’t know what the recovery time will be like, but I will definitely check in post-op and report what happens.
Until then, thank you for bearing with me and continuing to read College Crohnie, and I hope you’re all having a happy and healthy week!
College Crohnie 