A New Chapter

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.

Stange Experience

So I had a pretty strange experience yesterday (9/16/2011), I went to see an Orthopedic Surgeon for the first time in my life. Let me back up...

I have played baseball ever since I can remember. After High School I started playing men's competitive slow pitch softball. I had a minor right shoulder injury my sophomore year of High School, but recovered with physical therapy. Since then my shoulder has been fine.

In April 2011, I played in a softball tournament in Aurora, CO. We played about 5 games that day and after my right shoulder was sore. It slowly got worse, but I still had good range of motion, and strength, so like any guy does I figured it would just get better and there was no reason to go see the doctor.

A month later (May 2011), it was still hurting so I went to my doctor. He thought it was just swelling and gave me some anti-inflmatory pills. They didn't help. But life got busy, I took a season off softball, went to South Africa, and my shoulder never really stopped hurting.

I went back to my doctor in August 2011. He took some X-Rays, couldn't see anything there, so he referred me to the Orthopedic Surgeon. Now we are all caught up. Recap, hurt my arm on April 16, and I'm finally on the road to recovery on September 16, five months later. I know typical guy.

The Orthopedic Surgeon said, "The good news is there is no arthritis or bone spurs, but the bad news is that I have Tendinitis (swelling/ inflammation) in my shoulder and a Slap Tear."

So to help with the tendinitis I got a Cortisone Shot in my right shoulder, that was the afore mentioned strange experience. Most of my issues are in the front of my shoulder, but they administer the shot from the back of your shoulder. The needle was bigger than any other shot I have ever had. Thankfully, they spray you with a numbing medication to help with pain and the shot itself had some numbing medication with it. However, feeling a large needle moving around in your shoulder and the pressure that comes with it was, well, a strange feeling.

I also have to do 6-8 weeks of physical therapy which I start on September 20. I have a 50/ 50 chance of that healing my shoulder, or I will need surgery to repair the SLAP Tear. I have never had or needed a surgery before, so that was also a strange thing to hear.

Thought it would be fun to share this experience with those who care about me. Here's to hoping and praying that the physical therapy will heal my right shoulder. And as always thanks for reading my blog.

Love God & Live Free!

PS: Not looking for sympathy, but prayers are appreciated!