Hi everyone, my name is Jessica. I'm 27 years old, 28 at the end of this month, from San Antonio, Tx.
Two months ago is when I found out I have Crohn's, but I had been experiencing what turned out to be the symptoms of it for years. What's crazy is that back pain is what landed me in the hospital finally. I thought I had done something to my back or my right leg, but it turned out to be abscesses that had partially eaten their way through the muscles in my leg. They ended up running tons of tests on me, removing my appendix, part of my intestines due to a tear in them, removing the abscesses, and eventually doing a temporary ileostomy surgery as well, and finding the Crohn's. So here I am two months later, in the hospital again, because this stupid ileostomy thing has turned my life upside down. They can't do the reversal surgery for at least another few months, but it seems like every couple of weeks here I am. I'm hoping this time they'll actually start TREATING the Crohn's, so I will have fewer flair-ups and hopefully end up in the hospital less as a result. I'm tired of losing weight (I didn't weigh much to begin with) and the terrible pain that seems to go along with this disease, but I'm trying very hard to not give up and stay as strong as I can. I hope to make some friends who are going through or have gone through the same thing I am by joining this group, a lot of my friends don't understand or treat me like I'm made out of glass. I'm still me, just slightly altered! Well anyway, thank you for taking the time to read this long rant, and I'm looking forward to meeting ya'll and learning more about this Crohn's thing!
Edit- I also forgot to mention that at first I was completely mortified, the doctors told me if I had waited one more week the infection probably would have killed me. I had never been more scared in my life! I'm sure lots of people on here have gone through the same thing, but before this whole ordeal I had never even had my tonsils removed, so two major surgeries within days of each other flipped me out! But I'm stronger than this disease, and even though having this ileostomy bag is depressing some days, I won't let it beat me.
"Never be ashamed of a scar, it just means you are stronger than whatever tried to hurt you."
Two months ago is when I found out I have Crohn's, but I had been experiencing what turned out to be the symptoms of it for years. What's crazy is that back pain is what landed me in the hospital finally. I thought I had done something to my back or my right leg, but it turned out to be abscesses that had partially eaten their way through the muscles in my leg. They ended up running tons of tests on me, removing my appendix, part of my intestines due to a tear in them, removing the abscesses, and eventually doing a temporary ileostomy surgery as well, and finding the Crohn's. So here I am two months later, in the hospital again, because this stupid ileostomy thing has turned my life upside down. They can't do the reversal surgery for at least another few months, but it seems like every couple of weeks here I am. I'm hoping this time they'll actually start TREATING the Crohn's, so I will have fewer flair-ups and hopefully end up in the hospital less as a result. I'm tired of losing weight (I didn't weigh much to begin with) and the terrible pain that seems to go along with this disease, but I'm trying very hard to not give up and stay as strong as I can. I hope to make some friends who are going through or have gone through the same thing I am by joining this group, a lot of my friends don't understand or treat me like I'm made out of glass. I'm still me, just slightly altered! Well anyway, thank you for taking the time to read this long rant, and I'm looking forward to meeting ya'll and learning more about this Crohn's thing!
Edit- I also forgot to mention that at first I was completely mortified, the doctors told me if I had waited one more week the infection probably would have killed me. I had never been more scared in my life! I'm sure lots of people on here have gone through the same thing, but before this whole ordeal I had never even had my tonsils removed, so two major surgeries within days of each other flipped me out! But I'm stronger than this disease, and even though having this ileostomy bag is depressing some days, I won't let it beat me.
"Never be ashamed of a scar, it just means you are stronger than whatever tried to hurt you."
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