Hello,
My name is Teri. I am 33 years old. I am married and have 2
children. A 9 year old girl and a 4 month old boy. I have had Crohn's
for about 8 1/2 years. I got my ileostomy 11-2-04. It is suppose to
be temporary, but my surgen thinks it's possilbe that they may have
to make it permanant.
My Crohn's seemed to be under control until I got pregnant with my
son early last year. About four months in my simptoms got worse. Alot
of diarrea, weakness, stomache aches. The bad part was we had moved
from Kentucky, where my GI was , to Illinois. So I tried to find a
new GI. But it wasn't easy. We live in southern Illinois in a very
small town. The local hospital doesn't have a GI on staff!! So by the
time I was 30 weeks I was so sick I couldn't take care of myself. My
husband had to help me do everything. I ended up in the hospital 4
times by the time my son was born(6 weeks premature). I don't think
we realized how sick I was at the time. We thought my being sick had
to do with the baby. Because the about a day I did feel better. Then
I started to get even worse. But I ignored it because I was so
worried about my little boy. But thankfully he did much better than
his mother. He got to come home when he was 11 days old. But I ended
up back in the hospital the next day. I noticed I was passing stool
through my vagina. So I went to see my OB. Turns out I had a fistual
in the rectum throught to the vagina. I also had an infection in the
stitches I had from giving birth. So I was admitted to the hospital.
And on top of that I had Thrush and Shingels!!!! I had several
different infections. The dirarrea was so bad I couldn't make if from
my bed to the bathroom. I kept having accidents. So they said I
needed a GI and a colon rectal surgen. So I decided to go Home to
Louisville , KY to see my GI. And there I was in the hospital for 14
days. I have a temparary loop ileostomy. Atleast I hope it is
temporary. My Crohn's became very bad during my pregnancy. Partly
because I had to stop taking Remicade. But I have recently started
back on it. I have had 2 treatments and will have my 3 in about 4 1/2
weeks than start having it every 8 weeks. My hope it that it will
help get my Crohn's under control enough that they won't have to
remove too much during my next surgery.
I decided to join a support group because I realize I need to be
able to talk to people with simialar problems. As much as my family
loves me they can't really understand.
I look forward to talking to you. And hope to hear from anyone,
anytime soon.

Teri