The saga continues

I went home from the hospital, recovered for a week and went back to school. I thought everything could be the same. If I just took my meds, tried to get in 5 servings of fruits and vegetables on a low residue diet and got enough sleep I could keep this disease under control.

Two weeks later I was back in the hospital with a low grade fever, pain when I ate and no bowel movements for 12 hours. Possibly a blockage.

I was admitted right away, and the blockage cleared itself up a couple hours later. The doctors wanted to discharge me, but there was still that pesky issue of pain, and inflammation. When it hurts to eat something, or take a sip of water something is definitely not right.

IV steroids and clear liquids. Two weeks later still no improvement. A section of my small intestine was so scarred that it was sending blockage messages to my stomach, and causing pain whenever something came in.

The solution: surgery.

The plan: remove six inches of small bowel.

The reality: twelve inches of small bowel, my iliocecal valve, some colon, my appendix and the abscess came out. As well, my small intestine had been detached from my stomach and fallopian tube. Luckily they were able to do it laparascopically.

However, the first night after surgery my blood pressure was low and the nurse turned off my epidural. I always have low blood pressure, but we didn't know to argue this until we spoke with the pain management nurse the next day. That night was the worst night of my life. On the pain scale of 1-10, it was a 100. It also set my recovery back a couple of days, because once your pain gets out of control, it can only be brought down in increments - nothing can make it completely go away.

A week of recovery in the hospital, and then I was out. Tapering the steroids and ready to get back to normal again (hopefully!)

Thank goodness this happened over exam period and Christmas, so I could keep it on the down low.

In the beginning . . .

There was pain. For four years, I had stomach pain. It started randomly, could be several times a day, wasn't related to what I ate and it was invisible. Also diarrhoea and a bit of blood, but I didn't tell anyone because it was too embarrassing.

Four years ago, I had it tested. Ultrasound, upper GI (barium), blood tests showed nothing. Except that I was anemic. So I just dealt with it. Ignored it and kept going.

It didn't go away though. Last year I decided to do something about it. Again, went through all the tests. Upper GI, lower GI, ultrasound, more blood tests and nothing. I was given "Irritable Bowel Syndrome" which means they have no idea WTF is wrong with you.

So again, I dealt with it. I never took any painkillers because the pain came and went quicker than they could kick in. I curled up in a ball in my bed when it hurt too much to study, and I moved my boyfriend's hand off my stomach when we cuddled.

Then, one day after swimming I had pain. Near my hip, on the inside and at the front. Sharp, brutally painful and hurt to move. It went away after a couple of days, but then it came back. I saw a Dr. They told me I had iliopsoas tendonitis, and should take advil around the clock.

I took advil, and suffered for a week or two. It got so bad that I couldn't go to school, so I saw another Dr. We went to the sketchy walk-in clinic at the strip mall across the street. They prescribed a stronger painkiller. I took it and it did nothing, except make me throw up. I tried to study for a test that weekend, but I was in constant pain. On the Monday, I saw my family Dr, and ovarian cysts were thrown around.

I was freaked out, so we went straight to the ER for an ultrasound. Possible appendicitis or an abscess. Then a CT scan.

It was an abscess. And inflammation of the small intestine (iliocecal). One colonoscopy later, I had Crohn's Disease.