Monday, June 28, 2010
Crohn's and Me
In the spring of 10th grade I was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease. This treatable, but incurable chronic disease initially made me question “Why me?” I have come to realize, however, that I could let Crohn’s limit and dictate my life—or I could take control. So I now ask “Why not me?” Living with Crohn’s has made me more aware and able to better appreciate the strength and courage of others who wrestle with physical and emotional health problems every day. My interest in pursuing a career in health care, for example, has been heightened since my ongoing experience of being a patient myself. Many around the hospital may now know me as a "regular" considering my monthly visits to the doctor and to Nurse Karen for my weekly infusions. As awful as these fluent trips to the doctor may sound, I would have to say it has its benefits. Because of it, I am proud to say needles are no longer one of my worst fears. Getting "stuck" with those things every so often is not nearly as bad as I usually anticipated. However, most importantly, I have started feeling better than ever. Despite my keen eye for what I eat each day, I can now say I live a relatively normal life (even though I can never again call myself healthy). Having Crohn’s disease will define me for the rest of my life, but I keep reminding myself that it's up to me on how I choose to learn from it, manage it and adapt to it.
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I know exactly what you are going through and I can relate to your situation. My entire life life had had what they now call Urinary Incontinence and it really played a big role in my childhood. Once I became an adult, I kept myself going to regular doctors and taking medicine and they even said that if I had children, they could possibly have the same thing. I finally recently found a doctor that was doind a research for my condition which involved 20 botox injections directly to the bladder. Well I was determined that even though I hated shots that I was going to do it to see if it would work. It has only been 3 weeks and I have seen amazing improvements. Do not give up because when I was your age, I felt really bad about myself and I was made fun of but now I am 33 and I am not afraid to talk about my situation and I can only educate others about it and so far, my daughter that is now 5 does not have any signs of the problem.
ReplyDeleteThanks to this post I have learn something new because I've never heard of this diseases before so I made a little research of my own. I think that all those people who are consider to be healthy should consider appreciating it but most of the people don't. I really congratulate you for how you have cope with this disease and for the positive attitude towards it, not everyone thinks the way you do. Keep it that way!
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