Sarah's Crohn's Blog - Colectomy Update

Sarah’s Crohn’s Blog is a series of journal entries related to Sarah’s battle with Crohn’s Disease. She was initially diagnosed with ulcerative colitis in 2010, but since then the diagnosis has changed to Crohn’s Disease. Anything referring to ulcerative colitis in these blogs was simply written before the diagnosis changed.

January 4, 2020

Severely disease colon due to Crohn’s colitis. This picture was taken by the surgeon after the subtotal colectomy.

So I had my surgery yesterday to remove my colon, and everything went well. My cramping is 100% GONE. I can eat (liquid diet) without cramping, I can smell food without cramping, and I can exist without cramping! I am currently dealing with post-surgical pain, but the good thing is that I am at the peak of my pain now, and it will only get better from here. The surgeon said my colon was really bad and inflamed, and the lining was completely gone. It also had a small perforation that apparently my body was healing on its own. I know you don't know what a normal colon looks like, but as you can see in this photo, mine does not look very good, and that is reassurance that it definitely needed to come out! I'm really tender where they had to pull the colon out (because it was so inflamed) and am struggling with moving and even taking in a deep breath, but the pain is already getting better and I know it will just continue to get better from here. I am already glad I did this and feel super optimistic! Good things are coming my way!