- Joined
- Oct 18, 2009
- Messages
- 15
I guess i should start with an introduction;
My name is Paul, i'm 21, and I don't have Insurance.
For the last six months i've had on-and-off diarrhea, i always attributed this to my horrible diet (since i travel for work i constantly eat road food). The last three i never managed to be able to form a real stool. I knew this was wrong, but since i couldn't afford a doctor and because of my diet i never thought anything of it.
Additionally i started to lose a lot of weight, more than seemed right, especially because of my diet, i had started smoking, and i had started to change my diet, but it didn't seem right because i've always had trouble losing weight in the past. again, i never thought anything of it, mostly because i was pleased with the fact that i was finally losing weight.
September 12th i was out and about, i hadn't eaten that day, mostly because my stomach was queasy from the heavy drinking the night before (it was a cast party for a play my brother's fiance, those theatre people can drink let me tell you what) it was around lunch time and i figured i'd grab a bite to eat. So i ducked into the local bar and looked the menu over.
I ordered a ginger-ale to try and settle my stomach, and deciding that i probably couldn't keep much down decided to just get a few pieces of bread. I took one bite from the bread and a few sips of the ginger-ale and i instantly felt like i needed to vomit. The feeling subsided for a while, and i continued to drink. I sat there for a little while and decided i needed to use the bathroom.
I had to go, i had to go pretty bad, but the problem was i just couldn't go. I'd never had this problem before, nothing would come out, no matter how i tried, no urine, no stool.
I got back up, decided there was something wrong and that i just needed to go home and take something. I took a few more sips of ginger-ale and found myself rushing to the bathroom, praying down to the porcelain gods.
I sat back down to pay the bill, but couldn't, i had such a severe groin pain that i couldn't sit on the stool. I paid my bill and drove home (and it hurt so much to sit, it was a combination of getting punched in the groin and having to pee so bad you feel like you're going to burst any second)
I didn't know what to do, i'd never been in pain like this before, i'd never really had major pain like this, nor have i ever not been able to go when i knew i needed to. I took some Ibuprofen (i was an Ibuprofen fiend, i have a bad back), nothing, i tried a heating pad, nothing, i tried laying in the tub with both hot and cool water, nothing. I talked to my mother about it, she thought it might be Kidney stones.
I tried to regain composure, i tried to NOT feel pain (sometimes if you ignore it it goes away), it didn't happen, my mother said i needed to go to the hospital. Being uninsured i didn't want to go, but i knew i had to.
Off to the ER we went, my mother driving as fast but as carefully as possible, luckily we live only a few short minutes away from the hospital, and there are little bumps (aside from the speed bumps in the apartment complex, and belive me, they hurt). My pain was bad, so bad i didn't think i could walk out of the car. We parked in the ambulance bay and got me a wheelchair. I wheeled in and registered with the triage nurse.
After explaining my pain to no less than five doctors and two nurses they catheterized me, gave me some light pain meds and IV saline, and did some tests.
The doctor came in and didn't have a wealth of information to say. He told me my intestines were so inflamed that it was blocking off my bladder and that it could be an number of things. He said they would need to admit me, run blood, do more CAT scans. He said it could be a number of issues, he said it could be Crohn's, but didn't want to rule anything else out.
So i was admitted into the hospital, something a kid with next to no money and no insurance wants to happen. I didn't really care at that point what it would cost me, it didn't really matter, i needed to get better.
The next day i did some CAT scans, some blood, and eventually saw the doctor. He still didn't want to rule anything else out, but he pretty much told me the news then and there that it's Crohn's. I didn't know anything about Crohn's, i just new it had a name, i cried, i'm not ashamed to admit it.
I spent a few days there, taking anti-biotics and steroids, my acting PCP wanted to try and treat before doing anything further. The pain was not someting i was really prepared for. It changed often and randomly. There would be a constant pain, but then shooting pains, rolling pains, sharp pains, dull pains, pains all over. They gave me Dilaudid (Hydromorphone), various dosages depending on how bad i had it.
Eventually i went in for a scope, i wasn't thrilled at the prospect, but i knew it
needed to be done. They gave me Diprivan to knock me out, i was laughing at the fact that it hurt going in so much that i thought i needed some sort of pain killers. This happened for all of 30 seconds, after that i was out.
Waking up was the part that i think will always stay with me. I remember hearing lots of mumbling and then "It's Crohn's, It's Crohn's". I started to have a panic attack, a really bad one, they gave me Xanex and i eventually calmed down. I don't think i'll ever know if the doctor did say this, or if it was my imagination, but it sounded real enough.
The result: there were many lesions where my colon meets my small intestine, almost enough to cause a blockage.
I spent a few more days in the hospital, they did more CAT scans, more bloodwork, and eventually i was released with a Persciption to Prednisone. I was in the hospital for a week, my PCP, knowing i didn't have insurance, refused to allow them to diagnose me until after i got insurance (it's comforting to know that there are doctors that are human on the inside).
I spent a total of Four days out of the hospital, in that time life seemed to return to normal.
But then, the pain returned, i couldn't urinate again. I called the GI who treated me at the hospital, he told me i needed to go back to the ER. What luck.
I had gotten insurance, but it didn't take effect yet, i would need to wait until November for that.
My brother drove me to the hospital that morning, it was early, earliest i'd ever seen him get out of bed. This time i passed right past triage and into the ER there was no wait and there was a nurse with half a brain to realize that someone who should be fully ambulatory who needs a wheelchair to get around is in enough pain to be brought right in.
They gave me Dilaudin for the pain, and something for the anxiety (i was having a mild panic attack, if only because of stress). I really didn't know what to do, i was back in the hospital, helpless. I called my best friend, we talked for a good 45 minutes while they took blood and figured out what they wanted to do with me. It calmed me down more than any medication ever could.
Eventually i went for a CAT (after drinking barium this time). The results: an abscess.
I got admitted again, thrown back on antibiotics and they put a drain in me.
I spent four days waiting, all the time on antibiotics. They did a CAT to see if the abscess had fully drained or not. What did they find? A second abscess.
I don't think anyone was prepared for that, let alone me who wanted so desperately to go home at that point. If that wasn't bad enough there was a fistula connecting it to the intestine.
Eventually they decided surgury would be the best option for removing the abscess, since they were going to have to open me up to remove that they would remove the affected part of my colon.
After that there isn't much to say, i spent the next week or so just recovering from the surgury. I was on a Morphine drip, and eventually i was weened onto Percocet.
I'm currently taking Mesalazine (Apriso, since thats what my GI had samples of since i couldn't afford Pentasa) and Mercaptopurine. It's been three days since i was released from the hospital and i'm still very sore both internally and muscularly.
I started a little blog in the hospital to help me help myself cope with the disease, and i'm finding out more and more that i'm not alone (friends of friends, and even a coworker have crohn's). I found this community and intend to use it to learn about how others are coping with Crohn's, and i've even found a local support group that, once i'm healed, i'll go to a few times.
I think the full scope of the disease has hit me, i feel mentally prepared, yet still have my fears that i'm going to have a breakdown in the near future. As far as finances, this has bankrupted me.
so thats it really, long i know, but all the details are there.
My name is Paul, i'm 21, and I don't have Insurance.
For the last six months i've had on-and-off diarrhea, i always attributed this to my horrible diet (since i travel for work i constantly eat road food). The last three i never managed to be able to form a real stool. I knew this was wrong, but since i couldn't afford a doctor and because of my diet i never thought anything of it.
Additionally i started to lose a lot of weight, more than seemed right, especially because of my diet, i had started smoking, and i had started to change my diet, but it didn't seem right because i've always had trouble losing weight in the past. again, i never thought anything of it, mostly because i was pleased with the fact that i was finally losing weight.
September 12th i was out and about, i hadn't eaten that day, mostly because my stomach was queasy from the heavy drinking the night before (it was a cast party for a play my brother's fiance, those theatre people can drink let me tell you what) it was around lunch time and i figured i'd grab a bite to eat. So i ducked into the local bar and looked the menu over.
I ordered a ginger-ale to try and settle my stomach, and deciding that i probably couldn't keep much down decided to just get a few pieces of bread. I took one bite from the bread and a few sips of the ginger-ale and i instantly felt like i needed to vomit. The feeling subsided for a while, and i continued to drink. I sat there for a little while and decided i needed to use the bathroom.
I had to go, i had to go pretty bad, but the problem was i just couldn't go. I'd never had this problem before, nothing would come out, no matter how i tried, no urine, no stool.
I got back up, decided there was something wrong and that i just needed to go home and take something. I took a few more sips of ginger-ale and found myself rushing to the bathroom, praying down to the porcelain gods.
I sat back down to pay the bill, but couldn't, i had such a severe groin pain that i couldn't sit on the stool. I paid my bill and drove home (and it hurt so much to sit, it was a combination of getting punched in the groin and having to pee so bad you feel like you're going to burst any second)
I didn't know what to do, i'd never been in pain like this before, i'd never really had major pain like this, nor have i ever not been able to go when i knew i needed to. I took some Ibuprofen (i was an Ibuprofen fiend, i have a bad back), nothing, i tried a heating pad, nothing, i tried laying in the tub with both hot and cool water, nothing. I talked to my mother about it, she thought it might be Kidney stones.
I tried to regain composure, i tried to NOT feel pain (sometimes if you ignore it it goes away), it didn't happen, my mother said i needed to go to the hospital. Being uninsured i didn't want to go, but i knew i had to.
Off to the ER we went, my mother driving as fast but as carefully as possible, luckily we live only a few short minutes away from the hospital, and there are little bumps (aside from the speed bumps in the apartment complex, and belive me, they hurt). My pain was bad, so bad i didn't think i could walk out of the car. We parked in the ambulance bay and got me a wheelchair. I wheeled in and registered with the triage nurse.
After explaining my pain to no less than five doctors and two nurses they catheterized me, gave me some light pain meds and IV saline, and did some tests.
The doctor came in and didn't have a wealth of information to say. He told me my intestines were so inflamed that it was blocking off my bladder and that it could be an number of things. He said they would need to admit me, run blood, do more CAT scans. He said it could be a number of issues, he said it could be Crohn's, but didn't want to rule anything else out.
So i was admitted into the hospital, something a kid with next to no money and no insurance wants to happen. I didn't really care at that point what it would cost me, it didn't really matter, i needed to get better.
The next day i did some CAT scans, some blood, and eventually saw the doctor. He still didn't want to rule anything else out, but he pretty much told me the news then and there that it's Crohn's. I didn't know anything about Crohn's, i just new it had a name, i cried, i'm not ashamed to admit it.
I spent a few days there, taking anti-biotics and steroids, my acting PCP wanted to try and treat before doing anything further. The pain was not someting i was really prepared for. It changed often and randomly. There would be a constant pain, but then shooting pains, rolling pains, sharp pains, dull pains, pains all over. They gave me Dilaudid (Hydromorphone), various dosages depending on how bad i had it.
Eventually i went in for a scope, i wasn't thrilled at the prospect, but i knew it
needed to be done. They gave me Diprivan to knock me out, i was laughing at the fact that it hurt going in so much that i thought i needed some sort of pain killers. This happened for all of 30 seconds, after that i was out.
Waking up was the part that i think will always stay with me. I remember hearing lots of mumbling and then "It's Crohn's, It's Crohn's". I started to have a panic attack, a really bad one, they gave me Xanex and i eventually calmed down. I don't think i'll ever know if the doctor did say this, or if it was my imagination, but it sounded real enough.
The result: there were many lesions where my colon meets my small intestine, almost enough to cause a blockage.
I spent a few more days in the hospital, they did more CAT scans, more bloodwork, and eventually i was released with a Persciption to Prednisone. I was in the hospital for a week, my PCP, knowing i didn't have insurance, refused to allow them to diagnose me until after i got insurance (it's comforting to know that there are doctors that are human on the inside).
I spent a total of Four days out of the hospital, in that time life seemed to return to normal.
But then, the pain returned, i couldn't urinate again. I called the GI who treated me at the hospital, he told me i needed to go back to the ER. What luck.
I had gotten insurance, but it didn't take effect yet, i would need to wait until November for that.
My brother drove me to the hospital that morning, it was early, earliest i'd ever seen him get out of bed. This time i passed right past triage and into the ER there was no wait and there was a nurse with half a brain to realize that someone who should be fully ambulatory who needs a wheelchair to get around is in enough pain to be brought right in.
They gave me Dilaudin for the pain, and something for the anxiety (i was having a mild panic attack, if only because of stress). I really didn't know what to do, i was back in the hospital, helpless. I called my best friend, we talked for a good 45 minutes while they took blood and figured out what they wanted to do with me. It calmed me down more than any medication ever could.
Eventually i went for a CAT (after drinking barium this time). The results: an abscess.
I got admitted again, thrown back on antibiotics and they put a drain in me.
I spent four days waiting, all the time on antibiotics. They did a CAT to see if the abscess had fully drained or not. What did they find? A second abscess.
I don't think anyone was prepared for that, let alone me who wanted so desperately to go home at that point. If that wasn't bad enough there was a fistula connecting it to the intestine.
Eventually they decided surgury would be the best option for removing the abscess, since they were going to have to open me up to remove that they would remove the affected part of my colon.
After that there isn't much to say, i spent the next week or so just recovering from the surgury. I was on a Morphine drip, and eventually i was weened onto Percocet.
I'm currently taking Mesalazine (Apriso, since thats what my GI had samples of since i couldn't afford Pentasa) and Mercaptopurine. It's been three days since i was released from the hospital and i'm still very sore both internally and muscularly.
I started a little blog in the hospital to help me help myself cope with the disease, and i'm finding out more and more that i'm not alone (friends of friends, and even a coworker have crohn's). I found this community and intend to use it to learn about how others are coping with Crohn's, and i've even found a local support group that, once i'm healed, i'll go to a few times.
I think the full scope of the disease has hit me, i feel mentally prepared, yet still have my fears that i'm going to have a breakdown in the near future. As far as finances, this has bankrupted me.
so thats it really, long i know, but all the details are there.
