I only spoke with her briefly before they drugged me up (and again after, but I do not remember that at all), but it worries me that my GI was under the impression I had not yet been diagnosed.  Her office called and asked who my last GI had been - so I assumed they got my medical records.  Apparently not.

She mentioned getting started on some steroids… but all I know now is that I’m supposed to go somewhere and get blood work done (I guess I can just show up at any doctor’s office? - that’s kind of strange).  

We’ll see how this goes.

AND ALSO, I was apparently so thrilled to wake up and find my boyfriend there that I just started crying and repeatedly telling him how much I love him.

Aww, I’m cute.

I have these four pills I have to take as a part of my colonoscopy prep.

Problem: I can’t swallow pills.  No matter how hard I try, what methods I use, and how much I want to, it just doesn’t go down.  I have tried everything (because chewing up Prednisone is the worst).  If a genie showed up and granted me three wishes, my first one would be to swallow pills.  Seriously.

Usually I would just chew them up and make faces and then move on - but the box says don’t chew them, may cause stomach discomfort, cramps, etc.  I do not need any of that nonsense.

So, I found a method.  And I know I’m not supposed to eat anything today, but it was either this or not take the pills - I dropped them inside a raspberry and swallowed that.

I’m baffled.  I don’t understand 1) why I can swallow a raspberry stuffed full of pills and not a single, tiny little pill, or 2) why I never tried this before.

Raspberries are my favorite thing ever.  Ever.  My grandmother (we lived next door to her until I was about ten, at which point I moved in with her) had raspberry bushes when I was young.  So I had an unlimited supply of raspberries to feast upon whenever I wanted (for years, what wasn’t eaten immediately, she picked and froze, so there was always a lot of them around).  Then, when she started getting sick more frequently, and tired, she stopped gardening as much and the raspberry bushes stopped growing.  Alas, my love was lost.  Now, I’m practically a slave to raspberries.  I love them so much.  So why have I never tried this before?!

My love for raspberries has conquered my inability to swallow pills.

My day has been made.

They let me leave, so I’m assuming my appendix is not about to burst. Good news!

So now, I need to find a pharmacy and get my things for the colonoscopy prep tomorrow. Also, I need to eat because I haven’t done so since lunchtime yesterday.

The inside of my left elbow is sore.  They took blood from it earlier, and then put an IV in it for the CT scan.  It’s overworked.  Please, everyone, just leave it alone for a while.

Going to undergo a $630 colonoscopy on Wednesday.

On the plus side, that should pretty much take care of the deductible and I’ll be good.

On the negative side, I feel awful that my boyfriend has to pay to have someone put a scope up my butt.

I called my mom.

Primarily because I’m nervous about the colonoscopy and absolutely terrified of this awful bruise still flourishing on my arm.

She’s rather upset about the colonoscopy in general.

I found it both odd and comforting that the procedure was scheduled before I met the doctor - this means that it’s a priority for her, but it also means she has neither spoken with me nor reviewed my medical records.  A colonoscopy is important and definitely something I need done (my Crohn’s could have spread or there could be other complications), but the disease is in my small intestine.  It can only be seen with a pill cam.  I feel like that should be the first step.  Furthermore, I can’t swallow pills - I have to be put under while they shove it down my throat.  My mom feels like the GI should have made an attempt to speak with me first, and that these two procedures should be done simultaneously to reduce the risks of the anesthesia and so that I won’t have to cleanse repeatedly (she also feels like an endoscopy couldn’t hurt, while they’re already in there).

I honestly don’t know if doing a colonoscopy and a pill cam at the same time is something that they would do.  I don’t see how it would matter, but I’m not a trained professional.  I’m sure it could.  My mom’s opinion does make sense, however.

So, my mother is calling a very well-respected doctor she knows (who helped to diagnose me) to ask his opinion.  Furthermore, if there is a better GI around (the internet does not reveal rave reviews for this one - although they aren’t especially negative, either), I want to know. 

However, I do not plan to call the GI and tell them I want a pill cam done at the same time (as my mother suggested).  I mentioned to the lady who scheduled me that a colonoscopy most likely won’t reveal anything and her response was something along the lines of, “Well, this is the first step.”  I guess so.  It makes sense… but also it doesn’t.  Shouldn’t controlling my disease be the first step?  Stopping the pain, maybe?

I don’t know.  I’m stressed out about being sick, and then being stressed out makes me more sick.

I see a lot of people have their Crohn’s disease stories posted, so I thought I’d add mine to the pile.

I started experiencing symptoms when I was in the third grade.  My stomach hurt frequently, but my mom thought I made it up so as to stay home from school (one school year, I missed over sixty days).  She would take me to the doctor, but unfortunately for me, she went in with this mindset and didn’t mind showing it.  So naturally, the doctor didn’t believe me, either.  This continued until I was around fifteen or sixteen, then my symptoms became much, much worse.  The stomach cramps became intense; the pain became so bad it made me nauseous, dizzy and sweaty.  It’s the worst pain I can imagine.  After seeing me drop to the floor in the middle of Wal-Mart due to stomach pains, my mom finally started to understand.  Shortly after, I became sick at school.  Feeling nauseous, I walked to the bathroom; on the way, my vision went black and I nearly passed out.  I made it to the bathroom and sat down on the floor; after a few minutes, my vision came back.  I was slightly terrified.

I went to the doctor, and was referred to a GI.  She ordered a colonoscopy and an upper GI.  These tests revealed nothing.  At that time, I started losing weight.  I’m 5’2 and usually stay at around 97 lbs, but I dropped to 91 lbs.  Typically, that amount of a loss wouldn’t be an issue, but since I’m already so small, my doctor was extremely worried.  We moved on to the pill cam, which showed Crohn’s disease throughout my entire small intestine.  The doctor called with this news on December 6th of 2008.  Immediately, I was put on Prednisone.

My symptoms became worse again.  For a few months, I had a constant (although mild) stomach ache, with serious attacks more frequently than before.  Prednisone side-effects stepped in to make matters worse; I slept maybe two hours every three nights and eventually began hallucinating.  I ate constantly (my weight went up quite easily) and I looked like a chipmunk.  I talked so fast I got out of breath and had to sit down.  And on and on with that nonsense.  When the hallucinations began (they weren’t serious - I often heard a sort of background noise, like a TV was left on in the next room, but when I went to look for it, there was nothing, and the noise stopped) my GI took me off the Prednisone a little bit faster.

Shortly after I started Prednisone, I also began 6-MP.  Shortly after that, I switched to methotrexate injections.  I can’t swallow pills, which as you can imagine, is extremely inconvenient when you’re being given nine pills a day.  My GI understood this (her husband had difficulty swallowing pills, also) and knew it wasn’t by choice.  Her PA seemed to think I simply didn’t want to do it, but that’s a different story.

All of this happened in the middle of my junior year of high school.  I was in no state to attend school, so I switched to the Home Bound program for the second semester.  I met with my teachers outside of school once a week.  The downside of this was that I could only take two classes instead of four, and I was already behind.  It’s hard to keep up when you miss as much school as I did.  At times, feeling like someone had just shoved a knife in my stomach outweighed doing homework.

By the time my senior year started, I was off Prednisone and only taking methotrexate (and folic acid, of course).  I was somewhat stable, which was good - I was expected to take eight classes and make up about six additional credits.  I somehow managed to do that, and graduated on time in 2010.

About a year and a half to two years ago, my dad dropped me from his insurance because I hadn’t gone to college right away (mostly because I had been told I wouldn’t be able to graduate and therefore hadn’t applied or even taken the ACTs yet).  At about the same time, my GI left.  I kept paying for the methotrexate, but when my prescription ran out, I couldn’t afford to go to the doctor to get more refills.  This was complicated by the fact that not only would I have to go to the GI - I’d also have to go to the GP to get referred to a new GI.  I talked to my dad, and was basically assured that he would be getting me put back on his insurance soon.  Well, it took him a while.

In the time that I have gone untreated, my symptoms have become fairly intense.  I’ve been having serious pains at least once a week.  It happened three times last Monday, actually.  I have milder stomach aches several times throughout the day.  Fatigue is a big issue for me, as well.  I’ve actually had to lie down on the floor at work to catch my breath.  Nausea and stiff fingers also come and go.  The worst part about it all is the unpredictability; sometimes I can’t leave the house because I felt a twinge in my stomach and it might turn into something serious.  I need to stay near a bathroom (preferably my own) and I certainly can’t drive while in that much pain.

In March, I finally got insurance again and made an appointment with a GP, who then referred me to a GI.  Her office called a few days ago and scheduled a colonoscopy for June 13th.  I’m so excited to be treated.  Here’s to remission!

that I have a colonoscopy scheduled for June 13th.

Excited for a colonoscopy.

Well.  That’s depressing.