Just another day

I gave this blogging thing a go a while back because I realized I had a lot to say about living life with Crohn's Disease.  Then I started becoming paranoid about having my feelings out there for everyone to read.  But really I have learned so much from living with this illness and there are so many misconceptions I am constantly clearing up.  So I'm returning to the blog in hopes of keeping people informed about my life and the things I go through every day.  Heck, even some of my closest friends who have been around me for the past seven years say things from time to time that make me wonder if they were really listening all along.

So there, I'm going to give this blogging thing a try for a little bit.  

I've been in an interesting place since June as far as my disease.  From August of 2005 till June 2008 I was in remission.  Despite being in remission, I was hospitalized three times during that period.  Now you might be wondering, "How are you in remission if you are in the hospital?".  People ask me that all the time and it's hard to explain.

I had a couple of surgeries that have left me with scar tissue throughout my abdomen.  Every once in a while they like to wrap themselves around my bowel thus sending me to the ER in extreme pain.  They usually clear up in the hospital with an NG tube and ice chip diet.  Regardless, I'll take a bowel obstruction any day over an actual Crohn's flare up.  I can recover from the obstructions in a week and be back to my old self; eating burgers, drinking beer, and running.  But flare ups; they are the devil.

An actual Crohn's flare, which I've been suffering from since June, is debilitating.  Because I had been in remission for three years, I was in denial.  I knew my condition was deteriorating but I was hoping that it would get better magically.  It's been so long since I've felt the pain of Crohn's that I didn't want to believe it.  So that is where I am today.  I'm flaring, not sleeping, struggling to get through the day, and still in denial.