Crohn's Chronicles

While the last few days of 2009 were tough and trying, my outlook for 2010 is positive. I can say I’ve learned a lot about myself in a short amount of time, more so than any other time before in my life.  Looking back at December,  having spent 10 days in the hospital, it really did change my character, and my attitude towards certain things. Not that even spending 10 days in a hospital is all that long, it just affected me. Sitting in a hospital bed motivated me to take control of my life. There’s so much life to be lived out there, and I was sitting in a hospital bed missing out. Maybe thats why If you know me i’m always looking for the next big adventure.

I realized that it’s up to me to make certain decisions about my health, and my Crohn’s disease. If you don’t voice up or ask questions, then your going to be treated like any other patient. I guess having a nurse come and tell you your Diabetic at 10 in the night and that she’s going to give you Insulin, even though you have never had high blood pressure or symptoms relating to blood glucose problems will get you motivated to “watch your back” per say. My parent’s told me this for the longest time, especially my dad, but it never sunk in until now “You’re the one living with Crohn’s, so you should look into it, find out more about it”. It’s of the upmost importance to know your body well when you have Crohn’s disease. Get to know every little feeling your body makes and how you react to certain situations. I can tell you now for sure, that I am a stress detecting machine.

New Years resolutions? Eh I think my main goal is to stay healthy and stay out of hospitals. Followed closely by staying away from stress! 2010 should be a good year!

Happy new years to everyone… 5 days late I know…

Heres a little about whats going on in my life right now. Near the end of november 2009; I think the wednesday before Thanksgiving to be exact. I found what appeared to be blood in my stool. Well what else could it be, when it left red traces in the toilet. However I was hoping and wishing that it wasn’t blood, even though deep down I knew exactly what it was. Reluctant to tell my parents, I wanted to wait a few days to see if it cleared up. Soon thanksgiving rolls around, then black friday, and no change. I was having loose bloody stools, (Gross I know) and a lot of them. We just happened to be celebrating Thanksgiving day with the relatives of course, so i had to act “Ok” I didn’t want anybody stressing out from me not feeling well (Mom). Having dealt with Crohn’s for 7 years or so I had become pretty good at being able to mask my pain, or in this case fear and discomfort.  I finally summed up the courage to call my mom into my upstairs bathroom late that Friday. I showed her the toilet, and there was that all to familiar look on her face. It wasn’t a good look, and it was the same look I’m sure I had on my face: Worry. Seeing as I always have bad timing, and it happened to be a Friday night, we really had no one to talk to about this problem. At the time I really didn’t want to go to the E.R., so I convinced my mom who had made a few calls to on-call doctors that we should just wait a day or two and go from there. Well the bleeding continued. This wasn’t just a little blood, this was paint the entire toilet red blood. I started to feel a little weaker over the next day. Yet still, trying to be a macho man, I still went out with my friends, and even attended one of their 21st birthday parties that weekend. although i was going out and trying to have fun, I can look back and say i was clearly not doing well at all. I was getting dizzy and light headed every time i stood up. I could barely walk to the mailbox and back without getting winded. I was really in a bad place at the time. Finally Tuesday, Dec 1st 2009 rolls around, and there has been no change in the bleeding except maybe in this case it was getting a little worse. I was sitting next to our brick fireplace, just sitting and trying to warm myself. I had no energy and my head was pounding. Finally my mom stepped in and said that we were going to the emergency room, and my dad agreed. I was so weak and tired that I really couldn’t resist, or even tell them no. At that time I just knew I needed help.

More to come later.