My Life With Crohn's Disease
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(2/09/02)Boy, I'm way behind here......Let's see if I can remember all that has happened in the last couple years.....
Well, December 13, 1998 I found out I was pregnant. I had been taking 6-MP for the Crohn's Disease and had to stop it immediately. Back then, they weren't quite sure of the risks of taking it during pregnancy. Because of that, I had to undergo several additional tests while I was pregnant. Everything was fine, and I gave birth to a beautiful 6 lb 2 oz baby girl, Morgan, on August 17, 1999.
During my entire pregnancy my Crohn's flared. Unfortunately, I had to be on prednisone for the entire 9 months. The prednisone was the cause for me to be diagnosed with Gestational Diabetes. Gestational Diabetes can cause babies to be larger than normal. In my case, however, it helped Morgan to grow to her small size of 6 lb 2 oz. I was thankful for that. I only gained 13 pounds with my pregnancy, and my OB/GYN thought she was going to be much smaller. I proved him wrong......I had been saying all along that I was ALL baby.... =)
2000.....Whew! Where did time go? Well, I was busy taking care of 4 children. In the summer of 2000, I had a kidney stone that became lodged in my ureter. Because of that, I developed Sepsis, which is a very bad blood infection. I was hospitalized for a few days and given high doses of antibiotics. That took care of the infection, but then I had to undergo lithotripsy to "blast" the stone. It worked!!!! =)
Spring of 2001......I was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia. Fibromyalgia causes pain all over the body. I am currently taking SOMA (a muscle relaxer) for my symptoms.
My 2001 Colonoscopy showed a little less inflammation in my large intestine, but still had some in my rectum and up several inches. I'm still taking the 6-MP and Pentasa.
Summer of 2001......yet another darn kidney stone. This one didn't become lodged in the ureter, thank God....but I did end up having more lithotripsy to blast it. This trip caused me to bruise and scar at the site. That's okay, it took care of the stone.
February 2002.....my post lithotripsy KUB X-ray (Kidneys, Ureter, Bladder) showed no signs of any stones or fragments. It would be nice to be stone free for a while......as I was passing stones monthly up until the big one in 2000.
Now my Crohn's has decided to flare up again. My GI has put me on Rowasa enemas for a month. After a month, if things don't slow down, she will put me on Entocort instead of prednisone.
I'm still awaiting my SSDI claim. I had been turned down after my ALJ hearing, and appealed to the Court of Appeals in Virginia. They recognized that I had an unfair hearing and sent my case to another Administrative Law Judge. I don't know, yet, if I'll have to have another hearing. It's possible that the ALJ will just make a decision (either positive or negative) from the information she has. I'm praying that I get the SSDI award.
You know......I'm in the bathroom 15 - 20 times a day. Lately, I've had over 5 accidents each day. How can a person like that work in an office? How can a person work standing up with Fibromyalgia and Crohn's Disease? I have a hard enough time taking care of my children. I hope the Judge can see that.
Well, my fingers are getting stiff, so I will end here for now. I will try my hardest to update this more often! Thank you so much for visiting!!!!
April 7, 2002. I had an Upper GI/SBFT last week. My GI just called with the results. The Upper GI showed the ulcer in my duodenum (which my GI has seen before via EGD). The radiologist is saying "possible peptic ulcer disease." They are going to test me for H. Pylori. The SBFT showed inflammation in my small bowel. NO DUH. I could have told them THAT.
I see my GI on April 23 for a follow-up. We'll see what happens then.
April 7, 2002. Well, I had a renal ultrasound today. It showed a 4 mm stone in my left kidney. We're going to watch it and have another ultrasound in October to see if it has grown, if I've passed it, or what. Woo hoo.
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