I was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis in 2002 and like most people i was in denial making myself believe I was lactose intolerent and I had bleeding hemorriods.
I was at home with an ice pack on my butt because I was having the worst pain, it felt like a candle lighter was in my colon with the flame burning and when i would have a bowel movement it felt like someone poured gas on it. I was running a fever of 102.6 and losing a lot of blood. I called my sister to take me to the emergency room. when she arrived she said that i looked like i was six months pregnant. She took me to the emergency room and of course I told the admitting clerk that i had bleeding hemorrhoids. I had to wait about 5 hours and they finally sent me to minor care. When I made it to the room and the doctor came in i told him my symptoms he just said, ” this is not minor care and he left. They brought a wheel chair and rolled me to another room and the doctors were coming in and examined me for hemmoriods and the pain was so bad i almost passed out and the doctor just said I do not see any hemorrhoids. I was still in denial so I thought they would just let me go home with medicine. I was so wrong.
They did blood work and said my white blood cells were high and they admitted me into a room. I was scheduled for a colonoscopy 2 days later and they discovered an abcess the size of a golf ball in my colon. They had to do emergency surgery to remove it.When they cut it out the infection got in my blood stream and i was septic. I woke up having convulsions from the surgery. I could hear the doctors telling my family that i was critical and they were preparing my family for the worst. I was just laying thinking how i walked into the hospital and they sent me to minor care and now they say i may not live. To make a long story short they inserted an central line that fed me for about a week. I heard the doctor tell my family they was going to bombard me with medicine and they did not know when i would be able to eat again. They were going to put in an ileostomy but my husband pleaded with the doctor if there was any way they could avoid that and the doctor said if that area was to stay extremely clean it might could be avoided.
I stayed in the hospital 27 days and my mom ,sister and my husband and some nurses were having to pack my rectum about 6 inches with gauze soaked in bleach water and everytime i had a bowel movement they would have to pull it out and repack it.One doctor did not think the hole would every heal. They sent in a wound specialist and all she said was how is this ever gonna heal. I was so depressed and humiliated by some of the remarks the nurses said to me. I had so many people praying for me to heal. I really believe that God healed me. I was put on Remicade , Imuran, Colozal, Predisone, antibiotics, and all the medicine worked for me. After 27 days in the hospital i was released to go home with home health and i still had my Ng tube. When i went back to my GI he removed the ng tube and told me i could start out eating baby food. the first thing i ate was pear baby food and i remember it was so good. My taste buds were so strong. When i went back to the doctor who did the surgery he could not believe I had healed. All he could say was 2 months ago if any one asked me if you would heal I would have said there is no way. then he gave credit to all the new medicine that was out there now like the Remicade. When i went back6 months later to my Gi for a colonoscopy he told me he had never seen anyone heal like i did there was no scare tissue or anything. He said I was a miracle. Oh I forgot to tell ya that they first diagnosed me with Crohn’s disease. They said they were 98 percent sure it was Crohn’s because of the abscess but later i took a special test and it showed 95 percent that it was ulcerative colitis. I have not had another flare that was my first and last one. My doctor tells me that I will have another one it may be 10 years from now. He said i would have another one but they would not let it get that bad again if anyway possible.
Medications: Asacol 400 mg 2 times a day
this story was submitted by “Pain In the Butt”
