Well, I've never had a blog before and honestly just recently learned how to text from my cell phone. I decided to start a blog to keep friends and family in touch with what is going on - specifically to do with my health.
On April 29, 2009 I will be going in for surgery to remove part of my colon. I have been battling Crohn's Disease for 11 years and for the first time I will have to be admitted to hospital and will come out with a bit less in the parts department.
They will be removing a portion of my descending colon called the sigmoid and while my surgeon is in there, he will also be looking at the section where my small intestine and large intestine join up. That's that area on the left of the picture where your appendix hangs down and that. If it looks ill and badly damaged they will also be removing some of that section.
Today I had a Barium swallow with follow through at one of the local laboratories in Edmonton - sounds like that part of the small intestine will be leaving me as well.
Things I have learned from going through two of them in the last three months:
1) Because my digestive system doesn't work like a normal person's and right now food is having a hard time getting around because of scarring - the test took four freakin' hours. I read every magazine in the place - lesson learned. Bring a really good book.
2) Just because the Barium is flavoured doesn't make it better. You can berry flavour dirt and it's still going to taste like dirt.
3) I was joking with the doctor that I was going to start glowing after all the x-ray photos - he very seriously assured me that the level of radiation used is so low that there is no chance that I'll glow. I guess it's good to know, it was also good to know his sense of humor is a little off so I didn't joke about that anymore.
Along with two Barium swallows and follow through I have also had a throat scope, colonoscopy, CT Scan and numerous blood tests in the last few months. I've also been on a wide range of medicine - Paul calls it my 'bucket o' pills' that I have to take every morning.
I'm also now on an injection drug called Humira. It comes in an epipen and I jab myself in the stomach with it every two weeks.
All that being said, I look pretty healthy right now. The doctor at the lab was surprised I had active Crohn's disease but that's the miracle of modern prednisone - and even though the looking healthy and feeling great is totally thanks to medication, I'll take it.
Am I nervous about surgery? Not really. But I can say that today, it's only March 30. I've always known there was a really good chance, almost a certainty, I would have surgery eventually. I think the stats are that 80% of Crohn's patients eventually need to have surgery, I've been hugely fortunate that I've managed to go almost 12 years without having it done.
My surgeon has said he will be operating laproscopically - so only two tiny incisions and a small scar by my belly button and so far the news is that if I do wake up with an ostomy bag it will probably be temporary and for healing purposes.
For those of you who don't know - an ostomy bag is where they have your intestines actually empty into a pouch that is connected to your body.
I won't know until I wake up from surgery what all has been done.
Anyway, I'm going to try to post things regularly. About how I'm feeling, my medications, living with Crohn's disease and that type of thing. I have learned from having it this long that there isn't a whole lot of information out there in one place about the illness and sometimes the little tricks to make you feel better aren't out there at all and you find them out by accident while talking to a Chiropractor or a pharmacist.
Please feel free to ask me any questions and I will be honest and straight forward in my answer. There is not enough known about Crohn's disease and other IBD (Irritable Bowel Disorders) and I would love to help people learn about it from the point of view of a patient living it.
