unavidanueva
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Jun 1, 2015
- Messages
- 78
So, I haven't posted in a few days because everything is going a little topsy turvy and I've been trying to sort it all out.
The biopsy results came back from my colonoscopy. The gastro had biopsied three shiny spots, and they showed mild to moderate colitis.
The DS surgeon's office had flagged the results, then called to ask me to describe my bowel symptoms. I told them the truth. I'd had a hard time getting back to normal after the colonoscopy, so I started taking probiotics. Everything got better, and a normal day for me was 3-4 formed BMs, no urgency. But before the colonoscopy, I'd been having unpleasant symptoms for a while. I'd go 6-8 times a day, progressively looser as the day went on, ending up as diarrhea with urgency. This was going on pretty much daily since at least mid April.
After that conversation, I did a lot of thinking, and realized, oh my, I was feeling so much better -- so WELL. When I was symptomatic before the procedure, I would feel sick every afternoon, had no energy, ended up lying on the bed, wiped out and in pain.
The gastro office called, I have an appointment to see them this week to talk about the test results.
The surgeon's office called back. Dr. Prachand is concerned about the severity of the colitis symptoms, that the combination of a colitis flare with the loose stools that can come with the DS, especially early on, could dehydrate me so severely that I might end up in the ER and possibly in a situation so serious that they could need to take down my surgery. He does not want to do the DS at this point, thinks the sleeve would be better for my overall health, given the colitis symptoms.
Two days later, the colitis flared again for two days. I was miserable, no energy, feeling awful, back to lying in bed, sick, all afternoon. Point taken.
Flare seems resolved, back to feeling ok for two days now.
So. I obviously need Thursday's gastro appointment. This tendency toward loose stools and urgency seems to run in my family, and I've had it off and on for years. I guess I accepted it as just my family's version of normal. But my 2-3 weeks of freedom from those symptoms were so liberating.
I have the pre-op prep day at the hospital next week (@hilary1617, is this the mindful blueberry meeting?), and a surgery date of September 4.
I've been mentally working toward the DS since the end of May. Now I'm trying to wrap my brain around this change. It's not necessarily a bad thing. I need to be healthy, in all aspects, and need to see what causes this colitis and how to control it. Eating for the sleeve, while perhaps more challenging than eating for the DS, may be a good thing because it will be an across the board, mom-and-kids-together thing that should also help my currently-too-chunky 11-year-old son. But I need to re-train my brain, because I've spent 2+ months anticipating eating for the DS.
I'd love to hear from any of you who are "just" sleeved. I checked out a few sleeve support pages on fb, and ... this sounds like a terrible thing to say even as I type it, but the people posting on those pages just weren't very bright. I much prefer the level of thinking/writing around here, even though I won't quite fit in with the majority of you who already have the DS.
Also, I have been approved by my insurance for the entire DS, so this surgery will go on the books as the first part of a staged DS. If I need the second stage later, and we have figured out the colitis by then, it will still be an option.
Thanks for listening.
The biopsy results came back from my colonoscopy. The gastro had biopsied three shiny spots, and they showed mild to moderate colitis.
The DS surgeon's office had flagged the results, then called to ask me to describe my bowel symptoms. I told them the truth. I'd had a hard time getting back to normal after the colonoscopy, so I started taking probiotics. Everything got better, and a normal day for me was 3-4 formed BMs, no urgency. But before the colonoscopy, I'd been having unpleasant symptoms for a while. I'd go 6-8 times a day, progressively looser as the day went on, ending up as diarrhea with urgency. This was going on pretty much daily since at least mid April.
After that conversation, I did a lot of thinking, and realized, oh my, I was feeling so much better -- so WELL. When I was symptomatic before the procedure, I would feel sick every afternoon, had no energy, ended up lying on the bed, wiped out and in pain.
The gastro office called, I have an appointment to see them this week to talk about the test results.
The surgeon's office called back. Dr. Prachand is concerned about the severity of the colitis symptoms, that the combination of a colitis flare with the loose stools that can come with the DS, especially early on, could dehydrate me so severely that I might end up in the ER and possibly in a situation so serious that they could need to take down my surgery. He does not want to do the DS at this point, thinks the sleeve would be better for my overall health, given the colitis symptoms.
Two days later, the colitis flared again for two days. I was miserable, no energy, feeling awful, back to lying in bed, sick, all afternoon. Point taken.
Flare seems resolved, back to feeling ok for two days now.
So. I obviously need Thursday's gastro appointment. This tendency toward loose stools and urgency seems to run in my family, and I've had it off and on for years. I guess I accepted it as just my family's version of normal. But my 2-3 weeks of freedom from those symptoms were so liberating.
I have the pre-op prep day at the hospital next week (@hilary1617, is this the mindful blueberry meeting?), and a surgery date of September 4.
I've been mentally working toward the DS since the end of May. Now I'm trying to wrap my brain around this change. It's not necessarily a bad thing. I need to be healthy, in all aspects, and need to see what causes this colitis and how to control it. Eating for the sleeve, while perhaps more challenging than eating for the DS, may be a good thing because it will be an across the board, mom-and-kids-together thing that should also help my currently-too-chunky 11-year-old son. But I need to re-train my brain, because I've spent 2+ months anticipating eating for the DS.
I'd love to hear from any of you who are "just" sleeved. I checked out a few sleeve support pages on fb, and ... this sounds like a terrible thing to say even as I type it, but the people posting on those pages just weren't very bright. I much prefer the level of thinking/writing around here, even though I won't quite fit in with the majority of you who already have the DS.
Also, I have been approved by my insurance for the entire DS, so this surgery will go on the books as the first part of a staged DS. If I need the second stage later, and we have figured out the colitis by then, it will still be an option.
Thanks for listening.
