I'm really sorry it's so long but it's been a long and rough 2 and half years...
I had just graduated from high school in the summer of 2007. I started 2 new jobs and I also started going to community college in the fall and thought that my life was about to take off as a normal young adult. I started having symptoms in November but i thought it was just due to stress. My mom and I are very close and that Thanksgiving she went to spend the holiday with my step-dads family in North Carolina. I missed her very much and spending the holiday without her just broke my heart. I was going to the bathroom more then usual and not eating hardly anything but like I said I thought it was just stress and depression. So I ignored it and went on with life. I went to school in the morning, finished classes around 2 o'clock went to my first job, worked until 5 then went to my second job and worked until 8. After work i came home, did my homework and went to bed. I thought that was a normal young adult life. You do what you have to do.
I think it was about December when I really noticed something was wrong.I had just turned 19 and I noticed there was blood in my stool but i didn't think anything of it. It's happened before and it was probably nothing serious. I also starting dating my first boyfriend the day after Christmas. Everything seemed perfect except the whole going to the bathroom as often as i was.
I took a quarter off in January because my brother was getting married in Florida so we had to travel down there for 2 weeks... Poor me right? :lol: While we were down there I would get horrible stomach aches but i was too busy to notice. I still had not told anyone about my frequent bathroom trips nor did i tell anyone about the blood in it. 2 week passed by pretty fast but i was fine with it. I wanted to get back to my life working and being myself. I got back to find out my boyfriend was cheating on me so we broke up, then about 2 weeks later my car was broken into. STRESS STRESS STRESS STRESS STRESS....
I felt like I was going to explode. Could anything else go wrong?
I met and started dating my current boyfriend while hiding my stomach issues and using the bathroom, what seemed like every 20 minutes. Work was almost impossible to attend because I was working at Sears Portrait studio as a Photographer and was working by myself everyday. Almost a month after i started dating my boyfriend I finally broke down and couldn't take it anymore. I told my mom and my boyfriend what was going on. My mom told me to find a Specialist.
So I did and went through the whole 9 yards. Blood test, a colonoscopy, Diets. EVERYTHING.
I started out on Asacol which it felt like symptoms were only getting worse. I had to quit my job because of the stomach pain and not being able to run to the bathroom when i needed to. I then was put on Prednisone & Imuran.
July i started going to a technical school to become a dental assistant. A few weeks into the schooling, my blood level was way too low. I was admitted into the Hospital and was there for 5 days. I was so anemic and dehydrated that the IV tech had a difficult time finding my veins. When she finally did I received a blood transfusion, and my first infusion of Remicade. I was put on Quarantine because the hospital was afraid i might have C-diff. ( a highly contagious stomach bacteria passed through the stool contact) I was negative after 3 days. My blood level started stabilizing so i was sent home. When i returned to schoo I was told if i missed anymore school i would be terminated. AWESOME.
A few months passed i was still really sick and could barely make it to school. Thank goodness i only had to go to school for 4 hour a day.
In October my blood level plummeted to a very low 18 when i woman my age should be at a 34. I was admitted back into the hospital for another 8 days. On the way down to my hospital room we got into the elevator with the same IV tech that had found my vein the last time. She remembered me and requested that she do my IV. I was glad to see a familiar face especially when i was not feeling so well. I had to drink the go-lightly stuff, get 2 enemas, a colonoscopy that i woke up during and could feel them taking biopsies, and a blood transfusion all in the first day. Great... Is this how this hospital stay is going to be? People would visit me frequently and it made me happy when they would arrive. My baby cousin came one day who was only 3 at the time but i can remember her face like it was yesterday. She was horrified to see the IV and all the tubes i had running everywhere. She came over and kissed my IV site and said "All better?" We laid in bed for a couple of hours and watched Dora. That really made my day. I finally got to go home on Halloween just in time for the trick-or-treaters! It felt good to sleep in my own bed with my boyfriend and to see my dog.
I have not been in the hospital since October of 2008 but i have been very close. I still have severe symptoms but i try to load myself up with prednisone to keep my out of the hospital. Remicade every 8 weeks at 10 mg per kg. It's become EXPENSIVE! All I can say is Thank Goodness for health insurance.
I graduated as a Dental Assistant even through all the troubles i had with the school. I am back in school to stay on my parents insurance. Funny how someone can be so sick and still have to go to school to keep their insurance.
I've noticed that i have become very frustrated with my Doctor because it seems like he's getting tired of nothing working and tired of seeing me. What Should I do?
I had just graduated from high school in the summer of 2007. I started 2 new jobs and I also started going to community college in the fall and thought that my life was about to take off as a normal young adult. I started having symptoms in November but i thought it was just due to stress. My mom and I are very close and that Thanksgiving she went to spend the holiday with my step-dads family in North Carolina. I missed her very much and spending the holiday without her just broke my heart. I was going to the bathroom more then usual and not eating hardly anything but like I said I thought it was just stress and depression. So I ignored it and went on with life. I went to school in the morning, finished classes around 2 o'clock went to my first job, worked until 5 then went to my second job and worked until 8. After work i came home, did my homework and went to bed. I thought that was a normal young adult life. You do what you have to do.
I think it was about December when I really noticed something was wrong.I had just turned 19 and I noticed there was blood in my stool but i didn't think anything of it. It's happened before and it was probably nothing serious. I also starting dating my first boyfriend the day after Christmas. Everything seemed perfect except the whole going to the bathroom as often as i was.
I took a quarter off in January because my brother was getting married in Florida so we had to travel down there for 2 weeks... Poor me right? :lol: While we were down there I would get horrible stomach aches but i was too busy to notice. I still had not told anyone about my frequent bathroom trips nor did i tell anyone about the blood in it. 2 week passed by pretty fast but i was fine with it. I wanted to get back to my life working and being myself. I got back to find out my boyfriend was cheating on me so we broke up, then about 2 weeks later my car was broken into. STRESS STRESS STRESS STRESS STRESS....
I felt like I was going to explode. Could anything else go wrong?
I met and started dating my current boyfriend while hiding my stomach issues and using the bathroom, what seemed like every 20 minutes. Work was almost impossible to attend because I was working at Sears Portrait studio as a Photographer and was working by myself everyday. Almost a month after i started dating my boyfriend I finally broke down and couldn't take it anymore. I told my mom and my boyfriend what was going on. My mom told me to find a Specialist.
So I did and went through the whole 9 yards. Blood test, a colonoscopy, Diets. EVERYTHING.
I started out on Asacol which it felt like symptoms were only getting worse. I had to quit my job because of the stomach pain and not being able to run to the bathroom when i needed to. I then was put on Prednisone & Imuran.
July i started going to a technical school to become a dental assistant. A few weeks into the schooling, my blood level was way too low. I was admitted into the Hospital and was there for 5 days. I was so anemic and dehydrated that the IV tech had a difficult time finding my veins. When she finally did I received a blood transfusion, and my first infusion of Remicade. I was put on Quarantine because the hospital was afraid i might have C-diff. ( a highly contagious stomach bacteria passed through the stool contact) I was negative after 3 days. My blood level started stabilizing so i was sent home. When i returned to schoo I was told if i missed anymore school i would be terminated. AWESOME.
A few months passed i was still really sick and could barely make it to school. Thank goodness i only had to go to school for 4 hour a day.
In October my blood level plummeted to a very low 18 when i woman my age should be at a 34. I was admitted back into the hospital for another 8 days. On the way down to my hospital room we got into the elevator with the same IV tech that had found my vein the last time. She remembered me and requested that she do my IV. I was glad to see a familiar face especially when i was not feeling so well. I had to drink the go-lightly stuff, get 2 enemas, a colonoscopy that i woke up during and could feel them taking biopsies, and a blood transfusion all in the first day. Great... Is this how this hospital stay is going to be? People would visit me frequently and it made me happy when they would arrive. My baby cousin came one day who was only 3 at the time but i can remember her face like it was yesterday. She was horrified to see the IV and all the tubes i had running everywhere. She came over and kissed my IV site and said "All better?" We laid in bed for a couple of hours and watched Dora. That really made my day. I finally got to go home on Halloween just in time for the trick-or-treaters! It felt good to sleep in my own bed with my boyfriend and to see my dog.
I have not been in the hospital since October of 2008 but i have been very close. I still have severe symptoms but i try to load myself up with prednisone to keep my out of the hospital. Remicade every 8 weeks at 10 mg per kg. It's become EXPENSIVE! All I can say is Thank Goodness for health insurance.
I graduated as a Dental Assistant even through all the troubles i had with the school. I am back in school to stay on my parents insurance. Funny how someone can be so sick and still have to go to school to keep their insurance.
I've noticed that i have become very frustrated with my Doctor because it seems like he's getting tired of nothing working and tired of seeing me. What Should I do?
Sounds like you have been managing quite well and I hope it stays that way. Are you working as a dental assistant now?
