The first thing I asked myself was: “Are you ready for what’s coming?” This particular question stayed unanswered. Right now, my medical record is archived in 10 to 12 volumes. Crohn’s disease took all my quality of life away from me.

While my friends were busy going to school, taking tests and having fun, I was taking a different kind of tests. I don’t really like routine, but in 2007, I created against my will a very relevant routine that I followed until 2010. Every morning, the nurse would wake me up to take my temperature and blood pressure. After that, she’d try to find one of my veins. After two burst veins and a lot of bruises on my arms, my blood was finally filling the tubes. After, I’d take my 10 morning pills, and I’d sleep until I was woken up again to undergo a battery of tests. All of this was only my morning routine! It’s better to laugh about it than cry…

My ordeal was just beginning, and the more time passed, the more complications and surgeries I got. I’ll tell you what I went through in four years. It all started with an acute peritonitis that required immediate surgery. When I woke up, I had an ostomy and I’d lost one intestine. Let me tell you that a temporary stoma can bring a lot of complications! I suffered from intestinal blockage and bowel obstruction caused by adhesions, and my pouch wasn’t sticking. I’d like to tell you that that was it, but it got worse. Other complications happened: My small bowel got tangled around my stomach, the skin irritation on my buttocks became sores, and I suffered from blood clots in my arms and abdominal hernias. Both my intestine and the membrane surrounding my lung perforated, the former also coming with a nice little fistula. And I also suffered from septic shock, which was the worst complication of them all. All in all I had 27 surgeries, three different stomata, and never-ending force-feeding and hyperalimentation. I lost hundreds of thousands of hair, experienced an extreme weight loss, felt terrible pain 24/7 and struggled with death seven times. The cemetery was getting closer and closer, but I wasn’t done with life. So I kept fighting.

Despite this hell I experienced for four years, there were some silver linings. I could spend the entire day in my pajama, and I could do all sorts of crafts while watching the movies my mom brought me.

Today, it’s almost my Crohn’s disease’s ninth birthday. I’m really proud of myself and the maturity I gained through all of my hardships. It wasn’t always easy, and I went through a roller coaster of rage, tears and smiles. I had hope for a better life, and I still do, because I think hope is what makes people live! Doctors told me that only a low percentage of people are hit this hard by the disease. I guess I liked being unique better!

It’d be easy to tell you that these past eight years and a half were easy, but I’d be lying. I think we don’t talk enough about the difficult parts diseases bring. Being tired and sick of having a disease happens, and that’s why I want to share one of the hardest moments I went through because of the disease with you. 

I’ll see you soon to talk about one of the most difficult period I went through because of Crohn’s disease. My year 2013 was mostly black.

 Kimberly

 This article is brought to you by : Premier Ostomy Centre