neighbor gal with ulcerative colitis surgery 9th

[irish]

Hi folks,I am requesting some prayer and good thoughts for my neighbor gal across the road. She is 29, married with one child. Diagnosed with ulcerataive colitis 3 1/2 years ago. She did manage to have her daughter with a good pregnancy and then this summer became extremely ill after trying to get this autoimmune disease under control without any luck.

She has been in the hospital more than 8 weeks since summer and has been very ill. She had histoplasmosis(lung fungal infection) and was very ill. Many weeks in hospital and then got C.diff, which is a very dangerous bacterial infection of the colon that is hard to cure with a fairly high mortality rate. Chances are she got the C.diff while in the hospital as it is one of those infections like staph that likes to spread in the hospital setting. Also, people who are immune suppressed(she was from her UC meds and high dose prednisone I think00very high dose!!) and have had a lot of antibiotics along with being run down from the stress of physical illness are very prone.

THey had her in Intensive care the past several weeks I think and she has been getting IVIG every day to build her up for this surgery. The plan is to do the removal of her large intestine and do a colostomy.Then after she heals and recuperates in months or years they will do one or two more surgeries.

I had talked to her several months ago and she had wanted to put this off and have one more child but she doesn't think there will be anymore babies. Both sets of parents and relatives have really had their hands full with this illness as her hubby is in a government job and is gone a lot. Please pray that all goes well as they are in need of some healing and closure of this part of their life. Their little girl is living at the 2 grandmas off and on. Thanks a lot Irish

[Pooh]

Oh Irish this sort of thing just breaks my heart.  So young and oh so ill.  It doesn't seem fair that the young get so sick.  It's bad enough when we oldsters are sick all the time.  They should be full of life and living it to the fullest.

I will sure put her in my prayers and her family also. 

Hugs, Pooh

[peacefulstorm]

Dear Irish,  I am saddened by your post.  Your poor neighbor, I wished I could come visit her or help out in some way. Its so hard to hear when we are young and so ill. My Rheumy is suprised I was still working when I first went to him, I was 30 when I was dx, with jeunivile RA as an adult because the severty of my damage, he had a picure of my carpal tunnel surgeries. They were horrific!

I will say prayers for your friend and her family, you bet! I hope she gets well soon. It was hard for me to accept that Trevor was my last baby.  I had him when I was 28 and it all went down hill from there.  I had been in pain way before I was even pregnant with Jake and he is now 14, I was 20 when I had him.  I had to have a double fusion in my neck when Trevor was 6 months old and when I was healed he wouldn't come to me anymore, he only wanted his daddy and that tore me up. 

Then I thought its ok, I can have another...nope. I have always wanted 3 children for morbid reasons. I lost my brother when I was 17 and then became an only child.  NO sibling to talk to, never to be an Aunt to a niece or nephew. VERY hard to swallow.  I did it and I am SO grateful for the children I do have and I pray that one day down the road I will have a grand baby girl to spoil! 

Hmm..I said all of that with out crying...that has not ever been the case before...acceptance is good.  HARD to make happen, but one day at a time right?[color]

[irish]

An update on my neighbor gal. She has had a long day!!! Her hubby posted many times on the Mayo clinic website for patients. She had to be at the hospital at 8AM and at noon was taken to have her 2 hour prep which I assume was to cleanse her bowel.

She was in surgery at about 3:30 PM and finished up at 8:30 PM. At 10PM she was in recovery waiting to go to her room. Sounds like everything went well. There are 450 posts on her Mayo clinic website of people who are praying for her. They have lots of relatives and know lots of people. Irish

I just remembered that at their wedding dance she came and talked to my hubby about the symptoms for celiac disease. She was having UC symptoms then but was undiagnosed. It surely hit her with a vengence. By the way, she had the cutest wedding dress I had ever seen. Very simple with colored embroidred flowers on the skirt. Very different and subtle and cute.

[salsen]

Irish I will add her to my prayer line intentions.  Hopefully this surgery will help to stabalize her condition.  As hard as it maybe to accept she may not be able give birth to another baby, she is blessed with a beautiful daughter.  Healing will be a blessing so that she will be able to go home and enjoy her daughter as she grows.  Please send her our wishes for a quick recovery.

[genko_b]

Hi Irish:

Thanks for the update on your neighbor's situation. Hopefully things will get better from here. I know several people who have had that surgery in their 20's and are doing fine now, 30-some years later. Almost had it myself. Ulcerative colitis is a tough disease.

I will keep her in my thoughts and prayers.

Genko

[wen.uk]

Hi Irish

Thanks for posting this and for the update - I truly do pray that she is improving.  UC is an awful illness too, I was dxd with it when I was 33 during a real bad flare, but have managed to keep it under control (ish) since.

It must be so hard for her having to cope with all this as well as a family, my heart really goes out to her - sending hugs and hope for healing across cyber space .....

Wen x x

[Scottietottie]

Hi Irish

I hope her recovery goes well. Poor thing's been through a lot. It's a horrible disease. I have a friend with it. She does have good remissions though so I hope it's the same for your friend.

Take care - Scottie 

[Katybarstool]

Hi Irish

My thoughts and prayers are with this family too.

Kathyx

[irish]

Neighbor gal's hubby posted at noon today. She is doing amazingly well. Has been up and walked 2 times by noon. She is having pain in the surgical area and looked at the ileostomy which really freaked her out.

She no longer has a headache. She has been having horrible headaches and was hosptialized in Rochester this fall. Imagine it was autoimmune headache. Also, hubby said that she enjoyed sitting up today as it was the first time in 4 years that she has not had colitis pain. She got sick and really never had a remission. Was on very high doses of Prednisone and it still was bothering her.

She is going to have another surgery that will hook things back up so that she can have bowel movements the normal way. She will just have to go more often since she has lost her large intestine. Thanks so much for your prayers and concern. I will tell you about this great group and how supportive you are. Thankfully, she doesn't have sjogrens----yet!!! Irish

[peacefulstorm]

Thanks for telling us about your neighbor, I am happy that things are getting a little better for her! I know that it will still be a long battle, but we will take the small victories as we can, right?
Cortnee'