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My New Normal

Hi All,

I'm Alan and I'm happy to be a part of such a caring group. When I was in my 50's I had some bouts of severe cramping and nausea which I chalked up to food poisoning (working in the food industry I was a little concerned I was making my diners sick!). I had good doctors who ran lots of tests but with no conclusive evidence of anything except ulcers.

I had a pill cam test when I was 60 and my GE suspected Crohn's and started me on Pentasa. The cramping became less frequent but my primary care Dr. told me to go to the ER as soon as I had my next bout of pain. The hospital did some testing and introduced me to the surgeon who suspected a blockage (BM's had always been normal). The other ER docs wanted to send me home but I convinced the surgeon to do an exploratory. He did and took out a piece of small intestine as well as my appendix. The appendix had a tumor in it and he diagnosed the infected part of intestine as Crohn's disease. He suggested Biologics but my GE told me to stay with Pentasa. My Primary doc. urged me to see a Crohn's specialist. About 7 months after the surgery I started seeing my new specialist who ran some other tests including an MRE which showed inflammation of the intestine just above the surgery. He started me on Humira with Entacort as needed.

So...now I'm almost 63 and coping quite well with Crohn's. I ride my bike to work and refuse to let this disease stop me. I write down my trigger foods as I've seen suggested on this most helpful site.I am also taking part in a 7 city study of Crohn's disease.

I am leaving for a riverboat cruise in Europe this coming Friday and it will be my first travel taking my Humira with me. The boat company and Airlines have said that refrigeration won't be a problem...I'm hoping they are right.

I hope I can contribute to future discussions.
 
Hi Alan,

I'm also new to this site and new to Crohn's. But hello, and good on you for getting on with your life, something that I hope to be doing very shortly!

Where in Europe are you visiting on the riverboat cruise? I've lived in a few different places around Europe and could have some suggestions if your in certain areas.
 
Hi BrokenMan,

I hope you get your life moving in the right direction soon.

My wife and I pick up the riverboat about an hour out of Brussels and travel along the Rhine and Mosel rivers and come back from Basel, Switzerland. The company that runs the tour is very inclusive with walking tours in almost all of the towns we stop at. We need a vacation as I was down with pneumonia for about a month around Easter. My wife had a cold and the Humira knocked down my immune system.
 

Cross-stitch gal

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Vancouver,
Hi and welcome to both of you! :welcome:

I hope that you will look around here. Many of us also meet in the chat room to get to know each other better.

Alan, I am thankful to hear that you're doing so well and that you're able to get out and enjoy life! We would welcome your input and look forward to your contribution in our discussions!

BrokenMan, there are also quite a few newbies to this challenge on here. So, I can surely say that you are not alone!

Please let me know if you have any questions and am looking forward to seeing you two around!
 
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