My Most Personal Post

This will probably be my most personal blog post, EVER.  Yet, I have no hesitation at all in writing it.  Why?  Because it very well could save someone's life.  Chances are, someone reading this blog post has been or will be affected by cancer sometime in their life.

Most of you are probably very aware that in early 2006 I was diagnosed with Crohn's Disease/Ulcerative Colitis.  The past 5 years have been an uphill battle for me and I have struggled to maintain my health, as well as my quality of life.  Crohn's Disease is an auto-immune disease which affects the digestive tract by causing severe inflammation.  This in turn causes a whole host of health problems---from constant, severe pain... to fatigue... to serious malnourishment and significant weight loss, just to name a few.  This terrible disease has controlled my life (literally) since the moment I was diagnosed.  It has kept me from working at times, caused me to miss out on many of my favorite activities, and it almost kept me from being able to live out my life-long dream of being a Mother.  Because my auto-immune issues are so severe, it has also began to affect my liver.  Although that doesn't cause me the daily pain that the Crohn's does, it's still something that the doctors are very concerned about.  In a way, I'm sort of a medical mystery.  I've been a case study at Shands, and now I'm practically a walking wonder here at the Medical University of South Carolina.  Nobody can seem to figure out what's causing all of this inflammation in my body, why it came on so suddenly, or how to stop it.  I've tried a variety of medications and treatments, some as drastic as chemotherapy.  Nothing has seemed to work for me.  So....all of this to say that even though I'm only 28 years old, I'm required to get YEARLY colonoscopy screenings to check for cancer.  Patients with IBD, Crohn's or Ulcerative Colitis are twice as likely to develop colon cancer in their lifetime.  Pretty scary statistics if you ask me!  So I gladly allow my doctor to do my yearly exam!  At 28 years old, the thought of cancer is something I wish I didn't have to even think about, but I do.  It's just part of my life and probably always will be.  I'm definitely not complaining.  I know that I could have been dealt something MUCH worse and whenever I start feeling sorry for myself I always remind myself that there are people out there suffering much more than I am.  However, I do wish I hadn't taken my health for granted when I had it!  You really never know how lucky you are to be healthy and feeling good until it's suddenly taken from you. 

So today was my big day---Colonoscopy day---woo hoo!  This is my 4th or 5th one, so by this point it's like second nature to me.  Honestly, it's not bad at all!!!  And coming from me, that's saying a lot because I am a major whimp!  Getting my blood drawn this morning and having them get an IV in my wrist was the most terrible part of the whole day, if that tells you anything!  They give you a wonderfulllll drug called Propofol (yes, the Michael Jackson drug!) which makes you feel goooooddd!  You don't remember a thing and in my case, I always wake up talking crazy out of my head and asking the same questions over and over and over again!  It gives you temporary amnesia, which for me is the weirdest feeling ever.  I like to be in control and I certainly like to remember what I said and did (possibly why I've never been a drinker!).  But this particular drug causes you to have very short term memory as you wake up and causes you to be in la-la land for about 20 minutes post-procedure.  The procedure itself only takes about 30 minutes and you are completely sedated and "asleep" for all practical purposes.  The exam's primary purpose is to examine the large intestine and check for polyps, or pre-cancerous lesions.  Often they will take several biopsies and remove any suspicious lesions that they see while doing the exam.  They took several biopsies from me today and sent them off to a pathologist who will read them and report back to my doctor.  The next few days we just play the waiting game and hope for the best on the biopsies!

Here are a few pictures that Matthew took to document my fun-filled day at the hospital!....

I know I said the worst part is the IV, but really the worst part is the prep!  They practically starve you to death!  I couldn't have anything to eat from Sunday at dinner until lunch today (Tuesday).  In addition, they require you to drink 64 ounces of this "special juice" within two hours, the night before your procedure.  So here's what my liquid dinner looked like last night....

Here I am waiting for my SECOND attempt at an IV stick.  Yes, this is after being stuck twice that morning for blood work, plus once for the first attempt at an IV.  They finally called in someone who could handle my tiny veins!

Woo-hoo!!  Success!!!  I'm finally hooked up and starting to feel goooooood!

Feeling a little loopy....

Here we go....getting wheeled into the operating room!

And this one I don't even remember....!  Obviously, post-op and coming down off my "high" and asking a million crazy questions.  Thanks, Matthew for tolerating my craziness!

Sorry for those of you who are offended by this picture....but here's what my intestines looked like today!  Not exactly the picture of health!  Be thankful for your healthy guts! =)

Finally!!!  After almost two days I was finally able to chow down!  My meal of choice?  Pure grease, of course!!

Coming home to this sweet face made the whole day worth it!!!

Once I was semi-conscious and not talking out of my head anymore, my doctor came in and talked to me and Matthew about his findings.  Not the best news, but I guess it could be worse.  He's very concerned about the condition of my intestines and is putting me on yet another medication to see if he can get the inflammation under control.  I won't know for several days (or weeks) about the possibility of cancerous lesions.  Whatever the outcome, having this procedure could very well save my life!  Early detection is the key when it comes to cancer.

Did you know that March is National Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month?  Colorectal cancer screening saves lives.  If everyone aged 50 years old or older were screened regularly, as many as 60% of deaths from this cancer could be avoided.  Normally, by the time you have symptoms, it's too late for treatment and there's not a whole lot that can be done.

I hope this post didn't offend anyone or give you "TMI", but I just felt that I had to share it.  It's a part of my life, and as I said, it could someday be a part of yours.  Here's hoping it's not!