Wegs Progression

[rif]

Wegs caused damage to my sons intestine and he had to have emergency surgery where part of his small intestine which had been damaged was removed and a temporary ileostomy formed whilst the newly joined parts healed together and then four months later when he was deemed strong enough another operation was carried out to reverse this procedure. I have not read of anyone else on this site having similar problems.

[HopeinTN]

My brother and sister both have Chron's disease and my sister has had a similar surgery. Except, her ileostomy is permanent as well as they had to remove her colon and rectum. I've been lucky to be so healthy for so long just sad my siblings weren't as lucky. So weird how all these auto immune diseases react. I hope your son is doing much better.

[rif]

Hi HopeinTN, my son is definately doing a lot better now thank you. He has always had a very positive and laid back approach to life which has helped thru the ups and downs since diagnosis and change in lifestyle.

[norcalian]

You have been through a LOT but todays treatments are very effective. When I first got sick they had only recently developed treatment. Many refinements and some breakthroughs have been made. There is a lot of reason to be optimistic.
I remain vigilant but not paranoid (That phrase sounds familiar. I like it).

When I asked my rheumy what my prognosis was he wouldn't give me a straight answer (I now understand that there isn't a static prognosis for this disease - only the individual nature of everyone's experience). One thing he did say on a couple of occasions was that I should be glad that I was diagnosed with disease at a time when there are so many good treatments available. I think we'll all benefit from this generation of RTX, AZA, improved prednisone dosing schedules, etc.

[Al]

... I should be glad that I was diagnosed with disease at a time when there are so many good treatments available. I think we'll all benefit from this generation of RTX, AZA, improved prednisone dosing schedules, etc.

I agree with all my heart and other favorite, if besieged organs. Still, I further believe that, not too many decades hence, the idea of global immune system suppression for autoimmune diseases (which amounts to triage, and is currently used for long-term management) will seem quite barbaric and primitive. But this is 2011, not the future, and the present is, indeed, vastly better than the old days, just a few years ago....

Al