Well, I haven't been on here much lately, but wanted to vent a little after my 2nd Remicade infusion last week and an appointment with my surgeon today. Remicade is going well and the seton drains finally came out today, which was great (except for the 10 minutes I spent with my butt right in front of the doc's face). He did a quick scope and....
The lower fistula looks like it may be responding to the Remicade, which is good. If it does not completely heal with a few more infusions he wants to try the fistula plug, which he acknowledged has a limited success rate.
However, the vaginal fistula does not seem to be responding to the treatments...it is still very much there. He said he strongly believes this will need to be repaired surgically, although he can do a trans-vaginal surgery so that it's a bit less invasive. That will likely be at the beginning of April. After that recovery (6-8 weeks) if all looks good, he thinks we can schedule the ileostomy reversal for the beginning of July. Admittedly, that's much longer than I wanted to have the ostomy, but I hope that I'll be fully healed by that point and can finally get on with things. That should give me about 2 months to recover before my wedding on Spetember 13th.
Trying to maintain a positive attitude, but I'm just so drained....I want some sort of guarantee that I'll be all fixed and back in one piece by September, but of course I know that no one can promise that.
I'll be in a better place mentally in a day or two...just need some time to process all this.
Can't we just fast-forward to August or something?

Ya know what? With your wedding in September, time will fly by! Summers always go by so quick anyway. Best of luck with all your upcoming events!

Michele, Just want to say I am hoping this will all resolve soon. There was just a post on the plug procedure that had a very successful outcome, a gal in SF.
Get well and glad you're back.

Michelle,
I hope everything works for you. If you ever find yourself faced with the extreme surgery of graciloplasty or something similar, PM me since I've been there. I had several attempts at repairing my R/V fistula before they took my gluteal thigh flap which worked.
Take care,
Lori

Michelle, I will keep everything crossed for a successful outcome for your procedures and that you will be well for your wedding in September. If nothing else, the wedding should keep your mind off the stresses of your health problems.

Good luck and take care.

Shell

I'm sorry Michelle I know that was not the news you were hoping for. On the bright side, at least one of the fistulas seems to be responding a bit --and you got the drains out. I will continue to be here for you and support you as best I can.
I agree, time is going to fly by with your wedding around the corner. Just try to keep the stress at a tolerable level. I know, ya right! Do what you can! Take care

Micheladelfina, My heart just goes right out to you! Poor baby getting ready for a wedding with all this kind of health stress! Your gonna make one hell of a wife for life though, know how to get through! I just wanted to say that I think (Icould be wrong), but most times these fistulas seem to get resolved for folks, either surgically or they disappear. Mine was surgically dealt with, but the one thing that really made a difference in healing the fistula to where it seemed it would close was protein. I was put on 100grams of protein a day, which is difficult to maintain, at least for me, but you could see physical evidence of improvement when I did stick with it and I swear I almost could have gotten it healed. But, I didn't get healed that way, and I want to make that clear, but it did help. You got time to work all this out with your wedding not till September! And weddings have a way of being all that you hope for when the day comes, cause it's yours! Vicky

Thanks for the support, as always. I've been doing what I can to help things along... eating really well, been at the gym almost daily, weight training 4 days per week.... now the trick is to get, ahem, "medically cleared" to fulfull my duties, shall we say, on the honeymoon. I've been "benched" for 8 months, so this is wearing rather thin.
However, it feels fantastic having the drains out finally. Yay for thongs once again!!

Michele, I'm keeping everything crossed for you. I hope all goes well, and you have a beautiful wedding and an even better honeymoon.

janna

Michelle,
I hope all goes well for you and that your wedding is wonderful!

Thank you!!!