AS STUBBORN AS A MULE
My adventure began in October 2013. I tried to ignore the symptoms so that I could continue to live my life to the fullest. I was convinced that the blood in my faeces and my haemorrhoids would eventually go away. I thought that my abdominal cramps and diarrhea were due to the stress I was experiencing at school. As soon as I started vomiting and losing my appetite, I knew something was wrong. Being a nursing student, I was terrified to now become a patient.
I had no other choice but to consult a doctor and he diagnosed me with Crohn’s colic disease. This means that there was only inflammation in my big bowel. I got out of the hospital one week later, with a bunch of prescriptions that required me to take an enormous amount of pills every day for the next few months.
I thought that I would be free and that I would be able to go back to my previous life. I was wrong. One week later, I was back in the hospital due to thrombophlebitis in my right arm, which was caused by the inflammation the disease was causing in my body. This was a small complication from my disease, but it had a big impact on my health. In order to remove the blood clot in my arm, I received anticoagulants that drastically increased the bleeding in my colon. I needed one blood transfusion per week, as I was suffering from anemia. With the help of acupuncture, osteopathy and my mother, who is a naturopath, I was able to be out of the hospital for two consecutive weeks. My mother is one of those people who believe in miracle diets. This led to two terrible weeks of not eating dairy products, gluten and fibres. This was all part of a hypotoxic diet where the meat had to be cooked at low temperature. My Christmas meal that year consisted of stuffed eggs, and an oven baked potato. I will never be able to forget this!
Unfortunately, being as stubborn as a mule, my Crohn’s disease regained control of my body pretty violently. At night, I could never make it in time to the bathroom. I had to go back to the hospital, where I got my last ever colonoscopy. It was the first and the last time I would see that doctor. To this day I still wonder who he is, as it was him who took the most important decision of my life, the one that changed it forever.
On Saturday, January 18th, 2014, a month and a half after my diagnostic, I underwent a total colectomy and an ileostomy. I decided that my anus and my rectum would be spared during the surgery. Seven days later, I learned that a small bacterium had come out of my rectum and settled in the bottom of my stomach. On Saturday, January 25th, 2014, I was back on the operating table to get the abscess drained and cleaned. However, seven days later, my faeces stopped coming out of my ostomy. They were coming out of a fistula, which was a small tunnel located between my bowel and my wound. I could either wait for the fistula to close by itself, which could take months, or go back on the operating table. I remember thinking that I didn’t care if my life ended back then. I wanted my ordeal to be over. On Saturday, February 1st, 2014, the surgeons removed the part of my bowel that had holes in it. I had another ostomy. It was much bigger and less aesthetic compared to the previous one. Two months later, during the Easter Holiday, my small bowel got stuck in an abdominal adhesion. That is when I underwent my fourth and last surgery.
I went through a lot of ups and downs during that year. I am so grateful I’m still alive and am able to share my story with you. I think life throws curve balls at us so we can overcome them and learn something meaningful from them. It took time, but I understood that I am strong, brave, inspiring and that I was born to help others. I won’t talk about my bag or what’s inside of it with ANA & Me. I will tell you all about my life and all the different emotional states I go through in the hopes that you will grow and move forward with me.