Crohns recovery means something different every time I’ve brought it up. Up until this last year, recovery meant laying down until a flare passed. Or sometimes it meant switching to a new medicine or doing a course of steroids. Ultimately, after two separate hospital stays of 3 weeks each, which included two major surgeries, recovery…
Tag: life with crohns
Crohns and the last year.
It’s weird to write this at last. I’ve told this story to so many people, in so many edited and abbreviated forms that I felt like I’d told you all what Crohns did to me. Here’s the short version, and I plan on writing about some of the things in more detail: last year I…
High Functioning, Chronically Ill
I live with Crohns. I am also ridiculously high functioning when sick – I always have been. When I was first diagnosed with Crohns, it was because I had a really really low hemoglobin count that sent me to the hospital for a blood transfusion. Literally everyone was surprised that I was standing- yet, there…
Longing for the Sea.
Sometimes I dream of the sea. I can taste the sea air, feel the water on my body and the water fill me with comfort as I dive below. I’m never human in these dreams, but a creature of salt and spray. They’re wonderful dreams. I actually wake up rested, which is unusual. My mantra…
It’s 2017, and I’m falling apart.
The irony is, it isn’t even the political stuff. My name is Whitney Drake, and I’m probably in the worst shape I’ve been in the last 4 years. I apologize to anyone who liked hearing about my progress, because there’s a reason I haven’t written about living with Crohns – 2016 was a year of…
I’ve got IRON, how ’bout you?
I have anemia. I’m still not sure if it’s because of the Crohn’s, or just exacerbated by it – but I have severe anemia. As in, when I went to the hospital (the trip that led to the Crohn’s diagnosis) my iron was so low that they had no idea how I was conscious. That…
Six Months!
As many of you might remember, I went to the hospital mid January for a flare-up of my Crohn’s disease. A terrible, terrible flare-up that resulted in my being put on prednisone for awhile to help the inflammation go down. I envisioned a year of monthly doctor’s visits, monthly blood draws. And it seemed exhausting….
Insurance. Glad I have you, but you are a pain.
I am lucky. A lucky, lucky girl. We have insurance through TheBoy’s work, and it’s a pretty good insurance. That said, health insurance still manages to make my life difficult. TheBoy started a new job little over a year ago, and I wouldn’t say that I had any particular health issues around the time of…
An Update!
I feel bad, but I never blogged that I came home from the hospital. But here I am! At home, living my life. Now, Crohn’s is a seriously weird disease. It doesn’t affect me constantly, and once you can get the pain of a flareup under control, life can be pretty normal. I honestly spent…