Introduction:
Hi my name is Keri and I’m 40 yrs old. I have two great sons 15 and 13. Divorced now living with a great guy for the last 4 1/2 yrs. I am self employed as a stylist for the last 23 yrs The last 3 yrs I’ve been living a life long dream of having my own 2 horses and been taking lesson for speed events Training my self and my horses to barrel race. I love it. Never to late. Since my divorce and when I first became sick. I promised my self that for each birthday I’d give my self a birthday challenge. My 40 th was to barrel race. Love it!
My Symptoms:
Well currently I am dealing with fatigue joint pain and bloating. Painful cramping, fevers at night the worst and throbbing joint no sleep. Mucus discharges and lots of old blood ( orange coffee grinds like stuff) unable to eat solids if I do because I’m starving it only comes back up. If my cramps start it makes my throw up both ends only with the pressure of going to the washroom. Or if I bend over.
My Story:
For three years things kept getting worse I was literally falling apart as was my life ,marriage and business . And my babies to keep happy. It was the hardest years of my life. They tested me for ms all my I lost control of my hips ,hand eye coordination. Which you could imagine was hard to do hair. All test came back fine. No MS , I wore an sleeping mask at night to try improve my energy levels. Big fail. As the bleeding and blood loss got worse I fought more with the doctors to find answers. A lot of it they blamed on stress. And my current condition of endometriosis Which I had already lost all my girls parts to :(. I knew it was something else. After all it’s my body I should know. They eventually started exploring. Had a scope and they decided to go in.
I had surgery in march of 2002they removed my last ovary and my sigmoid section was hung up on some scaring so they stretched it out and said there fixed. NOT I was with in days the bleeding and swelling came back with vengeance, they went back in 2 months later and removed my sigmoid section. Not a nice procedure, they re-sectioned at the same time. It took along time to heal if I ever really did. A long story short nothing ever really changed still bleed still swell still just not constitute I may have a week give or take a few days a month relief. Doctors weren’t interested and said it was all constipation issues. Lol. Found that funny being I could not eat a whole lot. Food just made it worse but I thought maybe they were right so for the next 8 years when I had a flare I took laxatives the same ones you took for scope prep. Nice I know but it helped keep the swelling down a bit. Was still doing that till a month ago been trying more natural approach. After years of suffering on and off . I’ve suffered with bouts of fatigue where did nothing but lay around. This would be most of a year and always in the fall I would end up in hospital really sick. But they could never figure out why. It was always a infection some where, they figured. So antibiotics by Iv then send me home. Just to list a few I was at a barbecue party and had to call my mom by the time we got to the hospital I was going into shock. I had an other infection they couldn’t find. All of which comes after major blow outs. That’s what I call them . It starts out with abdominal pains then lack of appetite then my stools get smaller and less frequent till nothing but pain swelling and extreme discomfort. Till the bomb goes off. I cramp up so bad I break out in a sweat and start turning really pail and all that comes out is this stinky orange coffee grind stuff . Then the spasms and fresh blood. And usually not even strong enough to get off the toilet. These happen about every other month. So long story short I have had my share off what I call blow outs. At parties, friends houses were I take a n attack and have no control and have soiled an entire bathrooms from ceiling to floor and left with no energy what so ever, and call dear mom to come drive me home yet again. I have collapsed cutting grass on and on. Never ever finding out what was wrong with me.
I also suffer now with painful joints from my feet all the way up. I’ve ended up in an ambulance because the fatigue and pain was so bad I could not move a muscle except my eye. Yep infection Iv again Oh they made sure it wasn’t rheumatoid arthritis it was negative. Last year suffered for nine weeks with vertigo the year before all the joints in my hands swelled making it real hard to work. The list goes on. Always an infection or the latest flu. Then four years ago my oldest son became I’ll bleeding from the bowel, after two weeks and no answers I took him to the children’s hospital and was admitted was very close to a blood transfusion. They asked ab out family history told them I had had my sigmoid removed but no real answers as to why. They pulled all my medical records and informed me that my biopsies were positive for uc. Four years after they removed my sigmoid and 4 yrs of symptoms I find out. They were concerned that my son had this , but was infected with a bacterial infection. They chose to treat the infection. He did get better. Nothing more was said. I was not informed about the disease and continued to suffer. Not knowing there was treatment as my doctor continued to treat my symptoms as ibs. So we are coming up to present day. Just this August my son started bleeding again but to scared to tell me. But I could smell the blood in his gas as I bleed regularly I recognizes the smell it’s a smell you never forget especially after my bowel surgery and ever since after :(. I confronted him and he admitted it had been for about 8 weeks. Scared of another bacterial infection I took him to the same hospital from 4 years ago so they would have his file. We went in they pulled his file which also had my medical file attached with the uc diagnosis and immediately had him booked for a scope the very next morning. Also due to the uc I was unaware of the joint pain that is associated with uc my son also had been seen by my doctor for and said growing pains. The next day it was confirmed uc . I was properly informed about the disease and was so thankful I reacted so fast for my son. So for him his meds have been reduced already in such a short period. I am so glad we didn’t need to use prednisone. As for my self after I listened to everything I think I went in to shock. I was anyway there for my son but everything that they talked about has been my self for the last 11 years. I was angry that I have been so sick for so long and unaware of treatment. So much work missed and my life altered so much by this disease. For the last 6 years especially I have had 1 to 2 hospital visits and multiple antibiotics every 3 to 4 months. Treating infection that no one knew was. Of sometimes they’d say kidney, bladder, or flu. Been tested for rheumatoid arthritis after an ambulance ride to the hospital. I was at work and my entire body lost all strength and could not move. Every test came back negative. My hands swelled so bad I almost gave up my job as a stylist. Lasted 3 months. Doctor said a strange flu bug I could go on with all the other visit that were strange and bizarre with now answers but white blood cells indicated an infection some where………. Just last oct I missed 9 weeks of work to vertigo.. All the time my guts were a mess yet still just constipation. I am almost finished ranting here. As I am pissed. My 15 yr old son as now been told he has what his mother has and has since he was 4 has watched me in and out of hospital and collapse around him and his brother many occasions. Had to b e taught to call my parents if I ran into trouble with an attack to come help ASAP. Whether I was at home and to exhausted to walk or even get of the toilet. Or pick us up because I couldn’t all of the sudden drive because I had an attack at the grocery store. So you can imagine the horror that went through him Yet I could have avoided all of this and saved his anxiety he has now. It makes me cry. I’ve told him he has a special doctor to look after him and he will not suffer as I have. So it was the other day we meet with his GI and he had asked my son if he had any questions or concerns……… My son said to him Will I be as sick as my mom :,(
His doctor a wonderful
Man started asking me questions and agreed to take me on as well And personally wrote my doctor a letter to request a referral to his office I was so relieved. Finally I may see some relief in my future and give my son a sense of relief.
Where I’d like to be in 1 year:
To see my son and myself in remission
written by Keri
submitted in the colitis venting area
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Hi my name is Keri and I’m 40 yrs old. I have two great sons 15 and 13. Divorced now living with a great guy for the last 4 1/2 yrs. I am self employed as a stylist for the last 23 yrs The last 3 yrs I’ve been living a life long dream of having my own 2 horses and been taking lesson for speed events Training my self and my horses to barrel race. I love it. Never to late. Since my divorce and when I first became sick. I promised my self that for each birthday I’d give my self a birthday challenge. My 40 th was to barrel race. Love it!
