Monday, September 26, 2011
Sunday, September 18, 2011
Thank God for remission but...
"He ain't through with me yet!"
I really just wanted to take time to blog and thank God for bringing me this far. As most of you all know, I was diagnosed with Crohn's Disease in April. I really thought I was at the high point of my life- everything was going right- or so I thought. Abruptly in the middle of my fairy tale I was whisked away to the hospital for a week and told I had a Chronic Illness called Crohn's Disease.
Ever since then, life has been a topsy turvy mess. Relationships were messing up, family wasn't understanding about my disease, my mom wanted me to clean my room[but whenever I had energy, I wanted to be with friends], I had work to make up for Spring classes and worst of all, no one thought I would return to the great University of Georgia.
None of the medicine helped.
I mean none.
The pain pills got me high, but seriously, I don't like that feeling.
I thought that the quality of my life was looking very dim and I thanked God that my sister was in law school because she might be taking care of me. I didn't qualify for MedicAid or MediCare. My mother was always spending money on medicine, deductibles, etc. My father was always trying to juice something new.
I am starting to cry because I really thank God for my support system.
My medicine still doesn't help even though I am on the best and most expensive medicine out there.
But my mindset has changed.
I refuse to let an illness dictate my life.
I refuse to lay in bed all week and not know what day of the week it is.
I refuse to spend my summers in the hospital.
I refuse to not be able to take care of my parents when they are older.
I refuse to not get this degree [i have worked too hard for it.]
I refuse to be thought of as the girl who can never do anything because of he disease.
Honestly, everyone, this is just the beginning. This was my cue from God to slow down and enjoy every beautiful day that He has given me. To stop and smell the roses.
I am on a medicine called Cimzia that is a pretty good medicine, at least for me, but my ultimate goal is to be in remission without medication.
I know God will get me there.
Crohnie Love!
I really just wanted to take time to blog and thank God for bringing me this far. As most of you all know, I was diagnosed with Crohn's Disease in April. I really thought I was at the high point of my life- everything was going right- or so I thought. Abruptly in the middle of my fairy tale I was whisked away to the hospital for a week and told I had a Chronic Illness called Crohn's Disease.
Ever since then, life has been a topsy turvy mess. Relationships were messing up, family wasn't understanding about my disease, my mom wanted me to clean my room[but whenever I had energy, I wanted to be with friends], I had work to make up for Spring classes and worst of all, no one thought I would return to the great University of Georgia.
None of the medicine helped.
I mean none.
The pain pills got me high, but seriously, I don't like that feeling.
I thought that the quality of my life was looking very dim and I thanked God that my sister was in law school because she might be taking care of me. I didn't qualify for MedicAid or MediCare. My mother was always spending money on medicine, deductibles, etc. My father was always trying to juice something new.
I am starting to cry because I really thank God for my support system.
My medicine still doesn't help even though I am on the best and most expensive medicine out there.
But my mindset has changed.
I refuse to let an illness dictate my life.
I refuse to lay in bed all week and not know what day of the week it is.
I refuse to spend my summers in the hospital.
I refuse to not be able to take care of my parents when they are older.
I refuse to not get this degree [i have worked too hard for it.]
I refuse to be thought of as the girl who can never do anything because of he disease.
Honestly, everyone, this is just the beginning. This was my cue from God to slow down and enjoy every beautiful day that He has given me. To stop and smell the roses.
I am on a medicine called Cimzia that is a pretty good medicine, at least for me, but my ultimate goal is to be in remission without medication.
I know God will get me there.
Crohnie Love!
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
back in school
hey all!
i am excited to say that i went back to school a few weeks ago.
i am excited to say that i went back to school a few weeks ago.
i have the 20 hours from the spring to complete and now 17 hours for the fall.
i know that i am probably overdoing it but i want to graduate in may. that is my goal.
i know that i am probably overdoing it but i want to graduate in may. that is my goal.
i have been doing pretty good these last few weeks but recently, when my menstrual cycle is on, i get severely ill! :(
but my good days are outweighing my bad days so i am happy with it. :)
hopefully my professors understand.
Monday, July 11, 2011
eFF this ish!
Excuse my language! I've been home since April 16th 2011 and it is now July 11th 2011. I have been to the hospital a total of 5 times and admitted 3 times. I have been through 3 rounds of Prednisone [DEATH IN A BOTTLE], just finished my Pentasa and now I am on 6-mp [which is supposedly low dose chemo].
The side effects from this medicine is getting pretty bad and with the school year rapidly approaching, I am trying to figure out how this is going to work. I still have ALL these incompletes from my Spring Semester and I am scheduled to take 17 hours in the fall.
I have 32 hours left until I graduate from the University of Georgia but I am unsure if that will even happen at this point. eFF that! I am graduating!
My advisor is trying to get me to take 17 hours in the fall, 3 in the spring and then Student Teach next fall! Ermmm, no! Just 3 hours in the Spring? No will do!
*disclaimer: I have a GREAT advisor! I have an AWESOME major! My department is pretty much a Christian department... you can really see the servant attitude!
The side effects from this medicine is getting pretty bad and with the school year rapidly approaching, I am trying to figure out how this is going to work. I still have ALL these incompletes from my Spring Semester and I am scheduled to take 17 hours in the fall.
I have 32 hours left until I graduate from the University of Georgia but I am unsure if that will even happen at this point. eFF that! I am graduating!
My advisor is trying to get me to take 17 hours in the fall, 3 in the spring and then Student Teach next fall! Ermmm, no! Just 3 hours in the Spring? No will do!
*disclaimer: I have a GREAT advisor! I have an AWESOME major! My department is pretty much a Christian department... you can really see the servant attitude!
ehhh, that is just my little rant!
Sunday, May 8, 2011
My Journey to the Truth... "You Can't Handle the Truth!"
Hey All! I hope everyone had a great day today!
I was diagnosed on 4/20/2011 and I am happy that I was finally diagnosed.
Since 2006, I have been dealing with abdominal pain, severe anemia, fatigue, or what my parents called LAZINESS! Is started college in Fall of 2007 and I would have great grades, then towards the middle of the semester my grades would drop, I would stop going to class, gain a lot of weight and tell people I was tired. This has been my tradition for four years now. My parents thought that I was just being lazy and slacking off but somedays I would be too physically weak to get out of bed. Other times, I would have spurts of "restlessness" and want to go out and have fun.
Since freshman year, I have had severe rectal itching, blood in my stool, severe anemia, and weight gain! I would go to the doctor and she would just tell me that I need to exercise or that it was the scar tissue from surgery I had before that made my anus itch.
But this semester was so different. I was making great grades [well, that usually happens] and in March, I started complaining about abdominal pain. I went to my PCP [primary care physician] and she diagnosed me with a UTI and gave me antibiotics. The pain went away but came back with a severe vengeance. I was in so much pain, people could see it on my face. I tried to suck it up and still attend class. I felt like I was already a let down because I wasn't graduating on time. Finally, the pain got to the point where I was throwing up horribly. Being an hour and a half away from home, I drove myself to the emergency room. My parents later joined me, as well as some classmates and I was diagnosed with a UTI again!
They gave me more antibiotics, put me on bed rest for a few days and sent me on my way. Five days later, the pain was worse. I couldn't hold any food down and was throwing up bile. I had NO ENERGY and had pretty much come to terms that I was just going to die... alone... in my bathroom. Luckily, my mom got in touch with me and some friends came to pick me up and take me to the Emergency Room. There they diagnosed me with Irritable Bowel Syndrome... I think. I was so doped up on drugs, that I had no idea up from down.
After that, my parents decided it would be best to take me back to Atlanta, where they could watch me and help me get better. Now on my 3rd or 4th round of antibiotics, I couldn't even keep them down. I was throwing up more bile. And to top it off, my mom kept trying to give me more medicine. Finally, they took me to the Emergency Room. The average wait time was 3 hours, so my parents thought it would be best to take me to another one but I refused to move. HELLO??? Can someone just get me a bed to die in? As soon as we were about to leave, they triaged me and took me right back. Thank God! My wait time was 30 minutes. But when we got back there, they wanted to send me home and just refer me to a GI. My mom refused to take me home. Thanks Mom! They admitted me to the hospital and gave me Morphine. They did another CT Scan.... I forgot to mention the first one.
The next day, I met a surgeon and my GI, Dr. Sunshine [such a great name]. The surgeon told me that I had a bowel obstruction and it looked pretty "nasty." He would probably have to take me down to the table the next day. Dr. Sunshine then decided to order me a colonoscopy and I had to drink that nasty salty stuff to clean me out. MIND YOU, I HAVEN'T HAD ANYTHING TO EAT IN A WEEK= STARVING! After the colonoscopy, he told me that I had Crohn's Disease. So now I am on Prednisone [40mg and tapering], Pentasa [4000mg] and Iron [325mg]. Everytime I take my medicine, I feel like an AIDS patient.
Since then, I've been trying to figure out what to eat, how to have some energy, how to lose my Crohn's weight and how to make up all this school time.
Positive Side: My dad and mom aren't upset anymore about me not graduating on time because they see that it wasn't my fault.
Negative Side: I have to take out more Student Loans to fund my extra year of school.
I was diagnosed on 4/20/2011 and I am happy that I was finally diagnosed.
Since 2006, I have been dealing with abdominal pain, severe anemia, fatigue, or what my parents called LAZINESS! Is started college in Fall of 2007 and I would have great grades, then towards the middle of the semester my grades would drop, I would stop going to class, gain a lot of weight and tell people I was tired. This has been my tradition for four years now. My parents thought that I was just being lazy and slacking off but somedays I would be too physically weak to get out of bed. Other times, I would have spurts of "restlessness" and want to go out and have fun.
Since freshman year, I have had severe rectal itching, blood in my stool, severe anemia, and weight gain! I would go to the doctor and she would just tell me that I need to exercise or that it was the scar tissue from surgery I had before that made my anus itch.
But this semester was so different. I was making great grades [well, that usually happens] and in March, I started complaining about abdominal pain. I went to my PCP [primary care physician] and she diagnosed me with a UTI and gave me antibiotics. The pain went away but came back with a severe vengeance. I was in so much pain, people could see it on my face. I tried to suck it up and still attend class. I felt like I was already a let down because I wasn't graduating on time. Finally, the pain got to the point where I was throwing up horribly. Being an hour and a half away from home, I drove myself to the emergency room. My parents later joined me, as well as some classmates and I was diagnosed with a UTI again!
They gave me more antibiotics, put me on bed rest for a few days and sent me on my way. Five days later, the pain was worse. I couldn't hold any food down and was throwing up bile. I had NO ENERGY and had pretty much come to terms that I was just going to die... alone... in my bathroom. Luckily, my mom got in touch with me and some friends came to pick me up and take me to the Emergency Room. There they diagnosed me with Irritable Bowel Syndrome... I think. I was so doped up on drugs, that I had no idea up from down.
After that, my parents decided it would be best to take me back to Atlanta, where they could watch me and help me get better. Now on my 3rd or 4th round of antibiotics, I couldn't even keep them down. I was throwing up more bile. And to top it off, my mom kept trying to give me more medicine. Finally, they took me to the Emergency Room. The average wait time was 3 hours, so my parents thought it would be best to take me to another one but I refused to move. HELLO??? Can someone just get me a bed to die in? As soon as we were about to leave, they triaged me and took me right back. Thank God! My wait time was 30 minutes. But when we got back there, they wanted to send me home and just refer me to a GI. My mom refused to take me home. Thanks Mom! They admitted me to the hospital and gave me Morphine. They did another CT Scan.... I forgot to mention the first one.
The next day, I met a surgeon and my GI, Dr. Sunshine [such a great name]. The surgeon told me that I had a bowel obstruction and it looked pretty "nasty." He would probably have to take me down to the table the next day. Dr. Sunshine then decided to order me a colonoscopy and I had to drink that nasty salty stuff to clean me out. MIND YOU, I HAVEN'T HAD ANYTHING TO EAT IN A WEEK= STARVING! After the colonoscopy, he told me that I had Crohn's Disease. So now I am on Prednisone [40mg and tapering], Pentasa [4000mg] and Iron [325mg]. Everytime I take my medicine, I feel like an AIDS patient.
Since then, I've been trying to figure out what to eat, how to have some energy, how to lose my Crohn's weight and how to make up all this school time.
Positive Side: My dad and mom aren't upset anymore about me not graduating on time because they see that it wasn't my fault.
Negative Side: I have to take out more Student Loans to fund my extra year of school.
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Functioning With Crohn’s Disease
Day 1
I am so sick of being fatigued. I mean I am always tired, no matter what. I got enough sleep last night but I just don’t have the energy. I kind of chuckle about this because my parents always thought it was laziness but it really isn’t (well most of it anyway). I want to get up and run marathons, etc. I am worried about my school work. I have a lot to get done in a shirt amount of time because of this thing called Crohn’s. It is okay, I will come out on top.
For breakfast:
My plan is to have Canadian Bacon, Toast and Yogurt… But yeah, I have class in an hour and I am not even dressed.
For lunch:
Because I am a college student and always on the run, I plan on having a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on white bread, a fruit cup, applesauce and pudding. Yum! It makes me feel like a little child.
For dinner:
Last night I made two servings, enough to last my Crohn’s in College Lifestyle:
I shall have Ribeye Steak with Mushrooms, Mac N Cheese, Rice and Green Beans.
Things to do:
- Complete schoolwork
- Figure out a meal plan for next week
- Complete my Crohn’s Notebook
- Clean up Room
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