Good day everyone!  Sorry for the delay in posts but my husband and I just returned from the Smokey Mountains for our 5th anniversary celebration.  We both really needed this getaway in a bad way!  Between me receiving some not-so-good news regarding surgery last week and my husband being overworked, we were really looking forward to this vacay!

I thought I would give you a little insight about my misfortunes that led to my last surgery, the BIG surgery.  Surgery #3 in 2014 is the resection that ended in a permanent colostomy.  I was getting fistula after fistula; as soon as one would get fixed, another would pop up somewhere else.  What is a fistula?  I also had several abscesses, which are collections of pus that accumulate in a local area and are filled with bacteria.  This bacteria causes inflammation and swelling, therefore, it is very painful to sit or even stand for any period of time. I was miserable during this time and knew I wouldn’t be able to tolerate this much pain very much longer.

At that time, I had tried every medicine that was available on the market and even tried my luck in a trial study (another story) yielding negative results.  My gastroenterologist scheduled a colonoscopy to see if my Crohn’s Disease (CD) had progressed.  What is a colonoscopy?  This colonoscopy was the most bloodiest and painful one I had ever had. When I woke up, I looked around and saw blood all over the front of my gown as well as on the bedding of the gurney I laid on.  I have to admit I was a little freaked when I saw this!  My doctor came in the recovery room and told my husband and I that my CD was located just inside the anus and rectum and up to my Sigmoid Colon.  This is why I was having so many fistulas and abscesses was because that is where my CD was located and I needed to have surgery that will result in a permanent colostomy as soon as possible to get the disease out of there.  She said it looked like hamburger meat in there!  I took about a week or two to make the decision to have the surgery or pursue other ways of healing.  In the long run, I knew I should have this done and over with so that I could move forward with my life as much as possible.

I wanted you to know what I went through and the feelings that led to having this permanent change to my body.  Surgery is a big decision to make and it isn’t to be taken lightly. There are a lot of things that could go wrong during surgery and afterwards.  In my next post, I will tell you about my colostomy surgery and how I felt afterwards.  You know, I’ve come to accept that if anything could go wrong, it will be to me!  I’m okay with this now, but it took a lot of time to accept this – I am a difficult person to treat!  All I can do is keep smiling (although some days, I admit, may be difficult to do) and take one day at a time !  The power of positivity and prayer is the key to healing!

Chow for now!