What is Crohn’s Disease and a bit About Me: (first page)

  Crohn’s Disease is a chronic illness causing inflammation of the GI tract (gastrointestinal tract).  It can occur anywhere in your GI tract which starts at your mouth and ends with the anus.  It varies in intensity and areas of occurence from person to person.  For example, it can manifest as sores in the mouth, which I have had, but it usually strikes the small intestine and/or colon.  Throughout my posts I will discuss symptoms, signs, side effects and associated aspects related to Crohn’s Disease with special attention given to my own personal experience going through the different stages of life and the effect Crohn’s Disease has had on those stages or could have had.

  About Me:  I am a 51 yr old woman and have had Crohn’s Disease since age 8.  I have been happily married for 18 yrs to a wonderful, supportive husband and have a sweet 16 yr old daughter who enjoys helping me out when necessary.  We have two dogs, a Cairn terrier, Woody, who loves to play ball and a Corgie, Sandy, who loves giving and accepting affection (lol).  They are good company for me since I am alone during the day.

  I am an RN, driven into nursing by my desires to help others with illness.  Unfortunately, I have severe complications (which I will discuss further in my future posts) that keeps me from working (I want to say that the complication which keeps me from working, short bowel syndrome with associated Crohn ‘s flares and only three and a half ft. of bowel is no longer common with the newer ways of treatment).

  I enjoy hanging with my family and friends and consider myself to be blessed, and a positive, optimistic person despite years of battling Crohn’s.  I also like to quilt, read (I loved The Lord of the Rings Series and the Twilight Series, and even Harry Potter books) and I think that Robert Pattenson is “hot” despite the fact that he is just a baby compared to me.  HaHa.  In the good weather (I live in New England) I love to walking and in the winter, I love downhill skiing although I have not been able to go in a few years.  I really need to work-out and strengthen my legs before I ski again because some of the medications I took for years (prednisone-steroid) has made my bones brittle, leaving me with osteoporosis.  I am on a drug now that helps reverse the damage to my bones.

  A history of Crohn’s Disease can be common in families and it has been prevalent in mine.  I pray and hope that my daughter does not get the illness but, there are much newer and promising treatments now as opposed to when I presented with it so I’m sure she would be ok.  I’m still here after all I’ve been through and I expect  to be here for many more years (as I said before I’ve been able to cope with all of this due to my positive nature and also my faith.  A cure may come during my lifetime and be great for all of those  who don’t have short bowel or other complications.  As I said before short bowel is rare now due to the newer treatments and ways of handling intestinal surgeries for Crohn’s.

  I hope to post weekly on this blog, until then try and stay well.  I will be back to share my feelings and education about Crohn’s Disease.  I encourage you to make comments and ask questions.  Poopser (how do you like my nickname, Pooper and Poopster were already taken. lol.  (This is page 1)