Hi Natalie,
I had my first resection done on Feb.11/08. The surgery went very well and they were able to perform it laproscopically so that helped immensely with recovery. I have a 3 inch incision just below my belly button and 2 other very small incisions on my belly. As for surgery they removed part of my cecum, terminal ileum, ileocecal valve and found 3 strictures in my TI. They thought I only had one stricture before surgery and that was causing me a great deal of discomfort. My strictures were narrowing with scar tissue so no medication would have helped my situation, so therefore surgery was what needed to be done and I am soo glad I had it done. I feel so much better. You did not say why your doctors think you need a resection and where about in your bowel? I was in the hospital for 7 days. The first few days are very uncomfortable to move around so make sure you take the pain meds.
They get you up and trying to do a short walk the next day, this helps get things moving bowel wise and are constanting asking you if you have passed gas yet!! I was on ice chips for the first few days and then they slowing introduced clear fluids, then solid fluids etc. You can expect diarrehea after surgery and that will eventually slow down, each person's experience is different. I honestly didn't start to feel myself again until about 4 weeks after surgery. I am dealing with a fissure right now and extreme fatigue but other than that I feel good and I am having "normal" bowels movements! I cannot answer your question as to when you can get pregnant after surgery....your doctor will know. As for pregnancy itself, even though I was not officially diagnosed with CD then, I never felt better during pregnancy. All of my symptoms ( D and pain) disappeared and then slowly crept back when my boys were about 6 months old. Discuss all of your options with GI, surgery vs. medication etc. Having surgery now vs. waiting until after you have a child ( if that is even an option) trying to recover with a small child makes me exhausted thinking about it!!! But I am sure many more people will soon come along who have gone through what you are facing right now and will be able to give some great advice. I just thought I would tell you a bit about my experience. Take care and please keep us up to date.
40 yr old wife and mom to two boys 8 & 10
symptoms since the age of 19
officially diagnosed with crohn's Feb/2006
meds: pentasa 500mg 2 x 3day,probiotic,fibre supplement,mult-vit
Surgery-Feb11/08 (resection)