Thursday, May 12, 2011

The rest of the story...

Hi everyone! Sorry I left you hanging with the happenings at Mayo! I came back home to a hectic week! Things ended well at Mayo. I finally had my MRI and met with Dr. Aggarwal. He was pretty amazed with all of my results. He found no infection, what they thought was a new fistula was not a fistula. He did say that my colon was inflamed, which was not the case at the time of the last surgery...which means that the Crohn's Disease is flaring. He was still thinking a permanent disconnect was the way to go. They want to see me mid to late June for a re-assessment. So, we got the go ahead to leave Wednesday afternoon, and leave we did. Dad and I drove straight through and got in our own beds around 1:30 Thursday morning...totally worth it! Since I came home I've been doing great. My Crohn's symptoms are the best they've been since I was diagnosed...with the exception of the time I had the stoma. Dr. Aggarwal is pleased and I think a bit amazed. Prayer worked for me. What an amazing experience. I have some pretty fantastic people in my life. Many of you know that while I was gone, Robin and Mom hosted our annual mini convention at On the Pot. That awesome group of people put together an $800 gift to help cover our trip to Mayo. I cannot properly express my appreciation for the gift. What an amazing blessing. Thanks to all of you for your wonderful thoughts and prayers. I love you all!

Julie

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Good day at Mayo...

Hi everyone! Well, yesterda was a good day all in all. I had to start out peeing in a cup...can I just say...I cannot do it...for real. However, I finally collected my specimen and turned the sucker in. I also had do do a blood draw...which, apparently, clotted, so I got to enjoy that again. Next it was off to the CT Scan. They did a scan of my abdomen to look at the fluid pockets that had formed. They were really concerned about infection. When the doctor did the scan, the deeper of the two pockets was gone...wahoo...prayer so works. The second pocket, which was just below the skin was still there. He drained 60 ccs of fluid and said it looked like post-op fluid with no idication of infection. The only bummer to the whole thing was that the person ahead of me took much longer than expected and I missed my MRI. I talked to Dr. Aggarwal this evening...he called me...how cool is that? He said that since they did not put in a drain, they would not need to do the test in the morning. Sooooo...they currently have my MRI scheduled for 5:00pm...less than convenient. Dr. A wants me to go over first thing in the morning and see if they can get me in earlier in the day. That way, I can try to meet with him tomorrow afternoon to look at results. Our last task will be to see Dr. Dozois...my hot surgeon. He will do an exam under anesthesia to look at a possible fistula...blah. So, keep praying my friends. It is definitely working! I'll keep you posted. Love to you all! Julie