So, I'm coming up on the 4 year anniversary of a life changing journey and I like to take time each year to reflect on my life and share some of what I endured in hopes of educating and encouraging anyone who went through or might ever go through something similar. To some of you, this may be old news and you've heard this story several times. To you, I'm so thankful you're in my life and you mean the world to me!! To everyone else, I'll do my best to spare all of the wonderfully gory details, but if you're interested, let me know and I'll tell you all about it!! Every bit of it!!I'll even show you my scars if you ask nicely! :)
Take a journey with me, if you would, back to the summer of 2007. I was 27, married for about 4 years and had a 3 year old little girl. Life was pretty normal. Then one day, I got sick. Like stomach ache, in the bathroom all day sick. And I kinda never got better. It would come and go and I didn't actually feel "sick," just had a belly ache and had to run to the bathroom a lot. I figured if I just left it alone, I'd get better. But it didn't get better. It got worse. The pain was unbearable at times. Like curl up in a ball and cry pain. And the urgency to go to the bathroom was serious, like NO I can not hold it! And this became an every day, usually several times a day, way of life for me. And then the unthinkable happened. I started seeing blood in the toilet. Not a little. A LOT. Every time. And I was scared. And embarrassed. And I didn't tell anybody. After a while, my husband found out and made me go to the doctor's. A year later. Yes, I dealt with this for a year.
So, I went to the doctor's. And then I had some tests and saw some more doctor's and nothing. Finally, they scheduled me for the dreaded colonoscopy. What?! I'm still in my 20's!! I'm not supposed to have to do this for like 30 more years! But there I was. And it wasn't all that bad. The procedure, that is. The prep, now that's a different story. Shortly after I woke up (I would not recommend doing this any other way than being completely out!) my new doctor friend (cause I'm not letting just anybody see me naked!!) met me in recovery to tell me the news. I had a disease called "Ulcertive Colitis." I had never heard of it. He explained a little about it, but I don't remember much of what he said. Something about it being similar to it's more popular cousin Chrons, which I actually knew a few people who had that. After scheduling more appointments and doing lots & lots of research, I learned that this was a disease with no cure. Great. I'm never getting better. Seems it doesn't really have any cause either. But at least I know what's wrong with me, right? Long story short, my treatment was to consist of taking anti-inflammatory medication. No big deal, right? WRONG. 15-18 large pills a day. I felt like an old person, having to carry around all these pills! FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE. *Sigh* It could be worse, right?
I was right about that. It was worse. See, this disease is kinda like cancer. It's cyclic, going from active to remission and many times back and forth. The pills didn't put me into "remission" like they should have. I tried several different ones. Nothing. It's also what's called an auto-immune disease. Basically, your immune system turns on to fight a sickness and never turns off. Your fighter cells start attacking the soft tissue of your intestines, only the large intestine in UC, creating ulcers that can't heal because they keep being attacked. So, how do they fix that? Basically, they turn your immune system off. Not a great idea, especially when you have a 5 year old. There was one more thing I could try first. Steroids. Great, now I'm gonna be all buff! Nope, not quite. I was just hungry and moody and couldn't sleep. But, for about 10 weeks, I took the steroids and waited for something to happen. Nothing. Unless you count gaining 30lbs something.Since long term steroid use is pretty dangerous, we decided to move on.
This brings us to late 2008. I was running out of options. Down to the last 2. Neither one was a good option either. Option 1 was a medicine that was taken by infusion for several hours every few weeks. I would need to go into the hospital to get this treatment. The side effects were scary. Tuberculosis, lymphoma, and no immune system. Ok, so what's option 2? Surgery. Complete removal of the colon (or large intestine & rectum) since my entire colon was effected. Really? Can you even live with out your large intestine? Evidently, you can. So, a year after I was diagnosed and 2 years after symptoms began, I was scheduled to have the 1st of 2 extremely invasive, but life changing surgeries.
Oh, I forgot to mention something that was kinda important. Having this disease increases your risk of colon caner by like 90%. Nothing like being told you're most likely gonna end up with colon cancer one day.
Anyway, May 8, 2009 was surgery #1. Proto-colectomy with temporary ileostomy & "j-pouch" creation. Sounds kinda exciting. Do you know what an ileostomy is? It's when they take your intestine and cut it and bring it out through your abdomen wall to empty in a bag. Let's just say, the 1st 5 days I spent in the hospital following the surgery were the easiest. That was the worst 3 months of my life. I don't know how people live with an ostomy for the rest of their lives. It was horrible. Every second. I swore I had made the worst mistake of my life. I had a great support system of family & friends, but it sucked. Fast forward 3 months and it's time for surgery #2. Ileostomy reversal and "j-pouch" hookup. FINALLY! Another 5 days in the hospital and I'm ready for my new life to begin!!
Whoaaa there cowboy! Hold on to your horses. Recovery was tough. I cried a lot. I now had 5 hideous scars on my belly. I had to be super careful with what I ate. But, I was cured!! And at my 3 month follow up, my surgeon told me that out of all the surgeries he's done, he's never seen a case of recovery quite like mine. I was like a poster child for this!! NO bad side effects. NO lingering pain. NO incontinence (which is BIG with these surgeries.) He was amazed. Not me. I knew why. I knew from the beginning that God was in this. I knew that He would bring me through. And I knew He was the reason, the only reason, I was CURED! I don't know why God healed me, but I'm pretty thankful that he did. Guess He thinks I'm pretty important. :)
So, here we are. May 2013. 4 years since my 1st surgery. Lots of people have issues, blockages, leakage, etc. I've had NO complications. Lots of people can't eat certain foods. I can eat everything! That may not be totally a good thing! I do know some other good thongs though. I never have to worry about colon cancer! I never have to have another colonoscopy or do another bowel prep!!! I'm never constipated!!! Hooray for the small things in life! So take a minute, if you would, and rejoice with me. Rejoice for something good in your life and for this great adventure in mine. Although lots of things have changed since that day back in 2007, God has remained the same. Ever faithful, ever loving, ever mighty.
No comments:
Post a Comment