For those that care...

[firehawk1120]

Not many people here REALLY know me but the few that do know that I recently had surgery and was in the hospital for a week. I had a chronic disease that I've been dealing with for about 6 years now called ulcerative colitis, also known as Chrone's disease. Well, I got sick and tired of being sick and taking all sorts of medicine and made a life changing decision. I had my colon removed because it was the only part of my body that was infected and removal would mean a 100% cure.

I spent 8 days in the hospital puking my brains out, in pain and generally delirious. I finally got home last monday and have been recovering pretty well. I have had a lot of time on my hands which explains why I've been on line posting more then normal.

I still can't do everything yet, but I'm walking better I can eat anything and keep it down, I sleep through most of the night and hopefully I'll be out driving soon.

Like I said I know some won't care but I figured I'd let others know who have come by to see me or have called etc. I'm doing good and can't wait for the warm weather and my wedding, Hawaii here I come. :)

Woo hooo ok any questions feel free. LATER

[WildBillyT]

Wow, Crohn's disease! Did they have you on Remicade and stuff like that?

Best wishes for a speedy recovery, sorry to hear about your situation!

[deadtrend1]

holy crap thats a huge surgery. How will your body work without the colon?

[johnjzjz]

i was on kemo for 56 weeks and lost 60 pounds and sick i know what your talking about --- sorry for what happened to you and i wish you a speedy recovery -- jz

[alamantia]

yeah man sorry to hear, I have had a recent ACL reconstruction and can tell you that was only orthopedic and Im not looking to go back in for anything else any time soon, hope ya feel better

[firehawk1120]

Billy I was on more drugs than I care to remember. Remicade, asacol, pentasa, azasan, even Prednisone and none of it worked for very long.

deadtrend it's really an amazing surgery. They pretty much remove 99% of the colon only leaving a little bit at the connection to the rectum, then they connect the end of the small intestine to the small section of the colon they left behind and create something called a J pouch which acts as a holding area til you are ready to go to the bathroom. There is no colosami (sp?) bag needed anymore with the technology and understanding of the anatomy anymore.

The best part is I'll never be on drugs anymore and I can actually go hours without having to go to the bathroom where before I would be afraid to drive down the shore for fear of hitting traffic and needing a bathroom ASAP.

[Mike]

i have chrones too, it sucks

[firehawk1120]

is it definately chrones or is it colitis??

[Mike]

chrones if my doctor is right

[baddest434]

damn gene. hope your feeling better and have a speedy recovery. i did notice you were online more recently. 6 years is a long time to be suffering, cool you had it done. take it easy and let me know whenever your coming down to the shore. maybe mike00ss, and his bro-inlaw jim will go out and grab a meal with us. later bro.

[IROCZBeast]

Thats rough I had correction of pectus excavatum back in april of 04. Basically all my ribs and sternum were broken and reconstructed and two rods where placed in to hold them in place for 6 monthes. I was in the hospital bed completely drugged up for a week. I was on all the good stuff, vikadin, percacet, etc. for a long time. I was in extreme pain for the first month and couldn't move much and talk, laughing, sneezing, coughing all cause ridicoulous amounts of pain for two monthes, wasn't aloud to do anythign for the remaining 4 monthes until the rods were removed. I had 12 staples in my chest an one huge continous stitch. And now I have a scar on my chest that looks like a big peace sign without the circle. Oh and to top it all off I had to fly out to los angeles, california for all this. So I know your pain man.

I wish you a speedy recovery and hope you get well soon.

[BigAls87Z28]

Good to hear you are getting better big guy. Wish you the best man, maybe once you are back on your feet, Ill have to head up north to see some of you old sons of bitches.

[BonzoHansen]

Man, I wish you all the best. Makes the herniated disc in my back seem like child's play.

[NJSPEEDER]

glad to hear you are on your way to a better life.

[firehawk1120]

CBR did you have the blood test done to confirm chrone's or ulcerative colitis, the difference in the diseases is extreme, but the effects are similar. I forget what the blood test is called but it's very specific for those two diseases.

Dude if you need anyone to talk to about the disease feel free to hit me up on PM i know all about it and how it can make you feel. Take care.

[The Fixer]

Wow man, glad to hear you're feeling better! One of my former students has massive stomach issues (can't keep hardly any food down etc), and they've tried a bunch of things. I think she's supposed to be tested for Chrone's pretty soon. Best wishes for a speedy recovery!

[firehawk1120]

Bill,

you my friend are on. As soon as I get married on May 11th and get back from my 10 days in Hawaii which will put me somewhere around the 23rd / 24th I'll hit you up and the 4 of us can get together in TR and grab a bite to eat.

Tell Mike and Jimmy I said hello if you see them I haven't talked to them in Years.

[Mike]

CBR did you have the blood test done to confirm chrone's or ulcerative colitis, the difference in the diseases is extreme, but the effects are similar. I forget what the blood test is called but it's very specific for those two diseases.

Dude if you need anyone to talk to about the disease feel free to hit me up on PM i know all about it and how it can make you feel. Take care.



blood tests and a colonoscopy and whatever the camera in the throat is..

[Rich189]

hope you get better soon man

[1_Hot_SOM_WS6]

Wow. Glad to hear that your feeling better. My cousin has chrones disease as well. She had surgery 2 years ago and now shes on a strick diet. She's doing better now, but if she comes off the diet she is a mess again. Hope you have a fast recovery....take care :)

[qwikz28]

Chrones is no joke man... you are a lucky man to have gotten rid of it. best of luck on the recovery and keep us updated as you get better

[LS1Hawk]

Hey man, I wish you all the best. Decisions like that are never easy, but it's good to hear you're doing well.

[slasherbarb]

i see people with chrones all the time at work...no joke at all...but at least you're doing better...always good to here...

[Savage_Messiah]

good luck man, better health is always a good thing to hear about

[Jersey_TA]

Glad to hear you are doing better.

[Kojak]

Congrats on the recovery man, but what does chrones do to your body? I've heard of it but I was never sure of what it did...

[enRo]

Congrats on the recovery man, but what does chrones do to your body? I've heard of it but I was never sure of what it did...

:google: is your friend.

Glad to hear your recovering well. Get better man!

[bandit88]

:flower: get well soon!!

[Teds89IROC]

wow that's serious, glad you're making a good recovery!

[firehawk1120]

Thanks for all the comments guys. It's definately a tough decision to make but one that I hope will make the rest of my life a much more enjoyable one.

Kojak, Chrone's disease is a malfunction of the bodies immune system. Basically, when you get sick your body attacks the infected cells to help get you better. Someone with chrone's disease has an over active immune system and when there are no bad cells to attack it starts attacking the good cells. The difference between chrone's disease and ulcerative colitis what I had is that chrone's affects the entire digestive system from the throat, stomach, small and large intestine (colon), colitis is specific to the colon. The drugs given are meant to suppress your immune system so that it stops attacking the body. When the disease is not under control a person can have very frequent bowel movements and extreme urgency for the need of a bathroom. Most times their is blood and loose / watery stool. It is extremely uncomfortable and can be embarassing if you are inflamed and can't get to a bathroom in time.

That is a real brief description of the disease.

[Kojak]

Thanks for all the comments guys. It's definately a tough decision to make but one that I hope will make the rest of my life a much more enjoyable one.

Kojak, Chrone's disease is a malfunction of the bodies immune system. Basically, when you get sick your body attacks the infected cells to help get you better. Someone with chrone's disease has an over active immune system and when there are no bad cells to attack it starts attacking the good cells. The difference between chrone's disease and ulcerative colitis what I had is that chrone's affects the entire digestive system from the throat, stomach, small and large intestine (colon), colitis is specific to the colon. The drugs given are meant to suppress your immune system so that it stops attacking the body. When the disease is not under control a person can have very frequent bowel movements and extreme urgency for the need of a bathroom. Most times their is blood and loose / watery stool. It is extremely uncomfortable and can be embarassing if you are inflamed and can't get to a bathroom in time.

That is a real brief description of the disease.


So if I had to give it a guess from what I learned in Bio, you had an inflimation in your lower intestin due to over active lymphocytes (sp?). Your t-cells just kept on attacking nothing. It could of been caused by a bacteria that went away or a protine defect caused by a mutation in your DNA. If youve had it all of your life its probibly somethign in your genes.
I'm guessing you had to change your diet to somethign more fatty so the lipids could coat your digestive lining and give you a little bit of protection against the inflimation. Anyway sounds pretty serrious and its good to hear your recovering. Good luck to you man...

[firehawk1120]

sounds about right except for the diet part. There really is no correlation to diet and this disease. Some people will try to make you believe so, but there has never been a proven study to show that. Basically, what may upset my stomach / intestines may be fine for someone else. But it's just because the disease my be in remission or active.

It is definately a defect in my genes somewhere but no one knows what specifically causes this disease it's a mystery at this point.

[unstable bob gable]

After seeing my wife suffer with colitis for years, I wouldn't wish it or anything like it on anybody. I hope you make a full recovery and don't have to deal with anything like this again!

[79CamaroDiva]

glad to hear you're getting well. as others said, good health is always good to hear about.

[Brando56894]

i remember doing a report in highschool on chrones disease, glad to hear your doing a lot better!

[maroman88]

2 of my friends on the FD have chrones, one is goin in for some surgery soon and the other had it a few years ago but just got his gall bladder removed...

good luck dude