A Lovely Day at the Hospital.......Or Week

You know when us Crohnie's can never tell when you're going to get a flare up??  Well this took me for a loop........

Last Friday morning I awoke early, as usual, needing to go to the bathroom, as usual, except nothing was coming out, not usual.   "Hmmmm", I thought, "that's strange, I know I have to go, cause I can feel it".  No sooner had I stood up, the feeling came back and so...back down I go........and....nothing.  So, now I'm getting the weird feeling.  You know the one.  Where you say to yourself, "Hmmmm".

This went off and on for about an hour or so, then came the "Uh - oh" moment, I threw up.
"Not good", I thought.  Because right at that same moment, I had that urge to go to the bathroom.  I already knew what those two combinations meant and I was desperately trying and trying NOT to let it happen......yeah...right.

Within minutes, I needed to throw up again, but this time, the pain started, just below my rig cage.
Sharp, intense and still I was NOT going to let this happen......have I not learned anything after 24 years of this disease?

By this time, I'm home alone and I struggled to get dressed and get myself downstairs and maybe, just maybe, laying on the couch might help......Haaa Haaaaaa Haaaa, what an idiot!
I could no longer sit, or lay down from the pain, AND I still had the feeling I needed to go to the bathroom all this time....time to call the ambulance and scribble a quick note to my wife.....
 gone to hospital.  I'm still throwing up when they arrived, BUT, because I'm throwing up, they won't give my any morphine......crap!!

What seemed like an eternity, we finally arrived at Langley Memorial and was wheeled in to the hallway.  Just my luck.....seems the whole city is at this hospital.  But by now, I really really needed to get to a bathroom!!  The ambulance attendant had to pull me up off the stretcher as I couldnt get up myself and I struggled, bent over,  the 20 yards or so to the bathroom, praying there was no one else in there.  Of course whilst I'm trying to go to the bathroom, I threw up again, this time, nothing was coming up.....my suspicions were now comfirmed to me......bowel obstruction.  I did this another time before they found me a bed, thank god and they got an IV in to me as soon as they could.  My bowels needed to rest.  After an XRay and CT Scan confirmed what I already knew, the concern now was.....was it bad enough for surgery or would just the IV be enough???

Saturday came and another XRay to see if the IV is helping.  In walks the surgeon afterwards and I'm already thinking....oh, crap....but, good news.  Seems the rest has helped a little and the obstruction is smaller.  Turns out, I had a new area of Crohn's develop higher up in my intestine, oh goodie, thus causing narrowing of that part of the bowel.  BUT, I would need to stay in hospital to see IF it stays the way it is, or clears.

Well....I'm home now after five days and everything seems to be ok......but I wanted to say to everyone out there.  With Crohn's, you just never know when, why, or where you're going to get a flare.  I didn't eat anything different, do anything different or anything that would "cause" it to flare.
When the Crohn's Fairy comes down and touches you with her magic wand, you deal with it the best you can.....like we always do. 
In my case, I should have listened and recognised the symptoms, done something about it, instead of denying it and hoping with all hope that it wasn't happening..  But I wanted to show, that eventhough I have been with this for 24 years now, I still wish it wasnt happening to me and hope it would just go away.

Well Crohn's is here to stay, don't be a twit like me and get help asap, you could be making it worse.

I'd like to thank all the staff, nurses and doctors at Langley Memorial Hospital in Langley, BC, Canada, for their great work and help.  You know you've been to the hospital too much when some staff, 3 nurses and 2 doctors recognize you.