dwarfrosefox-blog

[dwarfrosefox-blog]

Gee thanks

I was prescribed azathioprine to treat my crohn's. They sent me away with a stack of bloodwork forms and told me to get bloodwork done every month so they could monitor things. There was a risk that my white bloodcell count would drop, so they wanted to be extra careful. I had bloodwork done at the end of november and got curious about my iron levels last week. So i call in and my iron levels are phenominal. But my white bloodcell count was low. The test came back abnormal. So they told my to hold my medication. I got this done in november, and i had to call over a month later to find out that my blood was doing sketchy shit. Why the hell wasn't i called sooner? Weren't they supposed to keep track of this? I don't trust them anymore. No more pills with side effects that i can't monitor myself. This could have been so bad ad i wouldn't have known.

[dwarfrosefox-blog]

I don't know

I got the last of my iron infusionsbon monday and i don't really feel different. I'm still auper tired half the time but i'm dealing with it the best i can. I guess the bloodwork will show if this helped or not.

[dwarfrosefox-blog]

More iron

They've already used all the best veins in my arms so it took four tries to set the IV needle. My arms hurt, but the iron went in without any problems. There's only one side effect. About half an hour after the iron is given my feet get this itchy feeling that lasts a few minutes. It's kind of annoying.

[dwarfrosefox-blog]

Just a pic of the IV iron. Sorry if needles make you uncomfortable. The injection area is incredibly sore the first day, and then just feeling/ looking bruised the next few days. 2 more to go.

[dwarfrosefox-blog]

IV iron

Today has been hellish. The iron infusion didn't go as well as it could have. The back of my dominant hand is now swollen and horribly painful. I already iced it like crazy for a few hours and it's not discolored, just swollen. I'm so stressed out and tired and I've still got two more of these things this week. Please send me the strength to get through this without breaking.

[dwarfrosefox-blog]

Crohn's Diagnosis and Surgery

I was diagnosed with crohn's when i was 18, in december of 2013. I had struggled with "stomach problems" for years, constantly saw doctors, but they never put 2 and 2 together. It got to the point that I dropped out of high school. In early december of 2013 I started having violent abdominal pains. Eating anything, even sipping water would cause a stabbing pain in my lower belly that would leave me doubled over and unable to get up. I got my mom to bring me to the emergency room where they hooked me up to an IV drip. I stayed over night and was then transferred to a better hospital 30 minutes away. (The one we went to was in a smaller town and sucked ass.) The new hospital was better equipped and better staffed. They began running all kinds of tests. Bloodwork, ultrasound, CT scan, colonoscopy, and gastroscopy. Being on the drip i was feeling better, hanging out with my mom playing a game. Very suddenly i got a stabbing pain in my lower abdomin, doubled over and applied pressure to try and make it stop. It didn't let up. Nurses were scrambling, I was in pain like i've never experienced before or since. After what seemed like forever one of the nurses brought in a needle of morphine. That shit is magic. I believe it was later that day that my doctor came in with the results of my tests and told me an abcess in my intestines had burst creating a small tear in the intestinal wall. I was told i had crohn's disease and would be going into surgery the following morning. My mom was more stressed than i was. Being drugged up helps with the nerves. So i had a bowel resection where they removed two and a half feet of my small intestine and stitched the ends together. I had 20some staples holding the incision shut. I was admitted to the hospital around the 9th, had surgery on the 13th, and was finally released on the 28th. I've been doing so much better since my recovery. I got my GED, and my life is finally getting back on track. Sorry about the long read, and thanks for reading.

[dwarfrosefox-blog]

Anemia

This is the side of my illness that's affecting me most right now. Normal blood iron levels are 12-150 ng/ml in females. My levels tested at a 5. I've tried different pills and liquids for years with no luck raising my numbers. For an entire year I was even getting iron injections. These didn't help either. Although i did discover that after these injections i could actually stick a magnet to myself. Lol. That was some serious stuff. I'm pretty sure my body just doesn't absorb iron. So my doctors finally had enough and perscribed iron infusions. They hook you up to an IV and pump and iron aubstance right into your veins. They wanted 5 sessions in two weeks. I've only had one so far, three more this week, and one next week. Everything went well, meaning no negative side-effects. I've got a bruise on my arm, but that's it. I really don't like needles but cute male nurses make it so much better. Wish me luck with my appointments this week.