On October 22nd 2024, I will be fistula free for 2 years. Free from a disease that I thought that I would have forever.
And I have Dr. Ashwin Porwal for it. His DLPL laser surgery, amazing staff and facilities at Healing Hands Clinic are the reason I am healed today. I know that I was treated at the best clinic in the world for the complex situation that I was in.
My story begins with Crohn’s disease. Something that I have been dealing with since 2010. As a result of Crohn’s in 2021 I developed an abscess, and had emergency surgery to have the abscess removed. When I woke up from surgery I had 4 drainage holes in my bum to ensure all of the abscess was removed.
One of these drainage holes never healed. And 12 weeks after surgery, when otherwise I had completely recovered, one of the holes began to leak thin green liquid.
I soon found out that I had what was called a fistula. A tract inside my body from my colon to the outside of my body. It exited near my bumhole on my left bum cheek. I was horrified.
After seeing my family doctor and getting a specialist request put in, I waited 3 months to see the surgeon. By now the hole was constantly leaking thick green pus, 24/7. It smelled, it was embarrassing, and it was beginning to leak so much I had to constantly wear a pad in my bum cheeks to catch the pus.
After the 3 months wait the surgeon told me that I had what was called a ‘complex fistula.’ And this meant that it was too high inside my body to operate safely on. The surgery would require cutting my sphincter muscles and would make my permanently incontinent.
She explained that there wasn’t really anything she could do for me. And that I would have to learn to live with the fistula.
I was stunned. I had waited months for this appointment, and hadn’t even considered the option that they wouldn’t be able to help me.
But I believed her, and just left the fistula. It continued leaking, always changing its flow with my IBD symptoms. But as I was in a pretty bad flare, the leakage was pretty bad. It was humiliating, disgusting, and made me feel so gross.
But despite this, I learnt to live with it. And life went on as ‘normal’. During this time I moved to Australia, and even got my permanent residency here.
Then in 2022 I felt a familiar pain in my bum cheek. I had developed another abscess, again as a complication from the Crohn’s flare I was still in.
I immediately went to the emergency room where a CAT scan told them my fistula had grown to over 15cm long, was now a complex stage 5 fistula. And had two abscess cavities that were now filling with pus and infection.
They didn’t even offer to drain the abcess.
I was sent home with codeine and a referrel to see the colorectal surgeon.
Meanwhile I was still working full time, popping codeines, and increasing my prednisolone dose as I realised this made the abscess hurt a little less.
I also did 2-3, 20 minute sitz baths a day.
And I researched like crazy. I was not convinced that the medical team here in Australia would be able to offer me any better solutions than the surgeon had in Canada. I knew that a seton would be offered to me, but that it would not heal my fistula.
I needed a real solution.
I remembered that a few months previous my acupuncturists and Chinese medicine practitioner had recommended looking at Thailand and India for solutions for my fistula.
I started with Google but did not really find much promising. Then I looked on Facebook and found the Fistula support Facebook Group.
As soon as I learnt about Dr Porwal and Healing Hands Clinic I knew it was for me. But I needed to exhaust my (free and readily available) options in Australia first.
That didn’t take long.
My specialist appointment was prioritized and I saw the colorectal surgeon within a week of my emergency visit. And I am forever grateful that my partner Ron came with me to this appointment, because I do not think he would have fully believed my otherwise.
The surgeon said that for someone in my situation, in a severe ongoing Crohn’s flare with a complex stage 5 fistula the outlook was not good.
He said it would take them 1-3 surgeries just to find the hole in my colon amongst all the inflammation. Then I would get a seton where they string a material through your fistula and out your bum hole and secure it outside the body. This allows it to drain better and hopefully prevents abscesses from forming.
Once my inflammation was in check, down the line, I would then get ‘flap surgery’. Where they use a bit of rope material to cover the hole in the colon, and hope the body grows over the foreign material. The success rate was usually 70% he said, but (again) for someone in my situation, he thought it would be closer to 30% chance of success.
He explained I would probably need 5 or 6 surgeries over the next 5 years, and at the end of all I would probably still have the fistula.
My jaw hit the floor. But I was more prepared this, and trusted the system less by now. I had come better prepared this time.
We left the office and I just remember crying in the car. Both in physical pain from the abscess I was still sitting on, and the mental strain of having to deal with yet another serious Crohn’s complication.
But deep inside I knew I had already made up my mind to go to India and see Dr. Porwal.
And off we went as soon as our visas allowed. I decided to go over on a tourist visa as none of the 3 Australian doctors I asked would write me the required note saying that I needed to travel for medical reasons. No one in my medical team supported my decision to go to India.
I had been in contact with the team at Healing Hands Clinic and had made arrangements to see Dr. Porwal the day after our arrival. He fit me in without hesitation.
I remember the night before the initial appointment freaking out worried I had made the wrong decision. That there was no way I could get surgery in India. I had already been shocked countless times in the 6 hours since arriving at the poverty, disparity and uncleanliness that seemed to be everywhere I looked.
The next morning I tentatively entered Healing Hands clinic.
The busy clinic waiting room was bustling with people. All of the chairs were full and people crowded around the outside of the marble carved room. I knew this was not going to be like anything I had ever experienced before.
When I was finally brought in to Dr. Porwals office I felt a bit like I was meeting a celebrity for a minute. Not because of his demeanor or anything, but because of how much I had built him up in my head. He shook our hands and offered us a seat, I sat down sideways and uncomfortably, as he smiled knowingly.
I was put behind a curtain and given a robe, then asked to lie on the table as many people looked on. Dr. Porwal gave Ron and iPad and told him to watch. He sprayed my bum with numbing spray and delicately put a long slim camera up my bum hole. Within 2 minutes I could hear him say, Look right there, there is the hole in your colon. A small white mark appeared on the screen. Yes he can help you, I can definitely cure your fistula, he said confidently and with a smile.
I was blown away, obviously at his response that he could cure me. But also at the fact that he just showed us within minutes the hole in my colon that the surgeon in Australia said they may be able to find within 2-3 surgeries.
Okay, I could tell this Doctor was on another level. I smiled to myself and relaxed a little.
The next day I was booked into get DLPL laser surgery. The surgery itself was completely painless as I was under anesthesia, but the following 11 weeks I was there in Pune, was not without pain and suffering.
I was glad countless times I had brought codeine with me. The rules in India are very strict for pain medication, and I was only offered Panadol after the surgery. I definitely needed more.
On week 2 I would had my second surgery to have the balloon removed that had been inserted in the initial surgery to keep the would open. My pain decreased a lot after that.
On week 7 I needed a 3rd surgery to reopen the wound and ensure another abscess didn’t form.
Every 2-4 days during this period I would go into Healing Hands Clinic to have cleanings. These were done without anesthesia and were painful; there’s no way around it.
But these steps of ‘after care’, these cleanings and extra surgeries are an essential part of why Dr. Porwal has such high levels of success with healing complex fistulas. He has really worked it out.
For me personally with the way my wound was healing, if I had left early and not received that third surgery, the entire thing may have failed.
Two years ago I trusted my gut that there was a way out there to heal my complex fistula. And now looking back 2 years later, I know going to Healing Hands Clinic for DLPL laser surgery is one of the best decisions I have ever made for my health. Otherwise I could still be dealing with a fistula.
Healing my fistula also gave my renewed hope that I could heal the other ‘incurable’ chronic condition I was dealing with; Crohn’s disease.
And now as I write this my Crohn’s disease is in clinical remission for the first time in over 5 years. The hope that Dr. Porwal and his team gave me, gave me renewed drive to search for an alternative option that would work for me.
Which is how I found out with Helminthic Therapy, I now have a long-term plan both for my Crohn’s and to avoid developing another fistula. And I have found my purpose in creating @letshealIBD.