So let's go back ten years in my life...
In March of 2003, I was diagnosed with a chronic condition called Crohn's Disease. After the diagnosis I started to do well with medicine to control it. The few years before that diagnosis were hard. I was sick, anemic, weak, in pain, and most days I had to be near a bathroom at all times. There were a lot of sleepless nights, pain, and weight loss. I have a mild case of this horrible disease.
I started getting tested for things in January of 2003, but after lots of blood draws, urine and stool samples, and other tests, my primary care doctor sent me for a colonoscopy. That's were I got the diagnosis of Crohn's. I was placed on a medicine that seemed to control my Crohn's.
After my one and two year check ups things seemed to be going fine and my gastroenterologist declared my Crohn's in remission. He said to just keep taking the medicine until something changes. If I start to have symptoms again we will take another look at treatment. The upside to this, no Crohn's symptoms; the down side, six pills a day for the rest of my life. Taking pills is much better than being sick all the time. Overall, things have gone well.
Fast forward to April of 2013...
I am sitting in training for a new job and I get a voicemail from the pharmacy that said to call about my prescription. On a break, I call and they inform me that the medicine I have been taking for the past ten years is no longer being manufactured, due to some non-active ingredient in the coating of the pill that is known to cause cancer in rare cases.
Needless to say, that was not a fun phone call. It left me with a lot of questions. So I called my doctor to see what we could do.
Long story short, we found out they made an HD version of the medicine I was taking that was still being manufactured. It was 3 pills a day instead of 6, but that same amount of the medicine. So my doctor prescribed that and referred me to a Gastroenterologist for a long term solution.
I met with the Doctor and he recommended we do a colonoscopy to take a look at things, and that way we would could make a better informed decision as to what to do moving forward. He was optimistic that since the medicine I had been taking was not really designed for my problem area, and was keeping my Crohn's mostly symptom free, that I might be able to stop taking the medicine all together.
That brings us to today, the day of my second colonoscopy. Most adults have no need for one of these procedures until they are in their 50's or so, and I have had two before age 35, joy.
Side Note: If you have never had a colonoscopy they are not fun. The day before, you have to fast (not eat), drink lots of water, and take super laxatives. This is a terrible combination that leaves you feeling awful. The procedure itself is not too bad (because they give you drugs that make you sleep), but the preparing is horrible. I digress...
So after my colonoscopy today, I got great news from the doctor that there were no signs of active Crohn's Disease! He said he is "cautiously optimistic that my Crohn's is completely in remission." He also said that I could stop taking my pills. YES!!!
After 10 years of taking pills everyday I get to stop! God is good and he kicked my Crohn's Disease butt (pun intended). After a 10 year journey with Crohn's Disease, I get to start a new chapter, one with without pills to take. :-) Please pray that my Crohn's stays in remission. Sarah and I have been praying for this ever since we found out that they stopped manufacturing the pills I was taking.
If you took the time to read this, thanks for reading my blog, and I pray that God will bless you and your family.
