Wednesday, August 19, 2015
Crohnie Quote Of The Day
I won't let Crohn's define me, but there are days I just want to curl up and give in.....just a little.
Saturday, August 15, 2015
Kidney Stones and You
I went in to Emergency at 3am Thursday with right flank pain (kidney) that came on very suddenly at 1am. I wasn't going to suffer hoping it was going to go away this time and woke up my lovely wife to drop me off at the hospital. The pain was intense and I felt nauseous and every little bump in the rode in the 20 minute ride to the hospital was an adventure. I got through triage and in to a bed right away, which usually doesn't happen, as there was only one person waiting. Within half an hour of arriving, I had the IV in and the morphine was slowly being pumped through my veins. I need Gravol with it as morphine makes me sick. Soon, the pain was gone, or masked, but I didn't care as long as I didn't have to feel it.
I was still able to go to the bathroom which was good, but the Dr wanted a CT scan. I had it later in the day and had to wait in Emerg for my results. When I finally got to talk with the Dr, it wasn't what I wanted to hear but it was what I feared. I had numerous stones and needed surgery. He made me an apt with a urologist right away and walked across the parking lot to another building to talk with her.....again, not what I wanted to hear. She told me, and showed me, I had 2 5mm stones in the kidney, one 4mm stone at the end of the tube near the bladder and one 1.3cm stone at the entrance to the kidney....no wonder it hurt! They wanted to go in with a laser and get them out because she said there would be no way I would pass these on my own. It was scheduled that night and I went home to wait the few hours until I had to return. BUT, just after getting home, the hospital called cancelling until the next day.
Well, things sure have changed in the procedures in surgery prep since my last surgery 15 years ago. I was given a bag of warm "wet wipes" and was told before I put my gown on, wipe my body down with these wipes which you don't rinse off. Weird feeling after you put the gown on. Lots of questions from the nurses, that's the same, but now they lay a full length plastic bag under the blanket and then hook up said bag to a large blue vacuum-looking machine which blows warm air into the bag. The nurse explaining that keeping the patient warm lowers the chance of infections. I'm all for that! Got my IV in and now had to wait for my time which felt like forever, but it did come and was wheeled down to the OR waiting area where I had to answer all the questions again and got to wear the fancy blue paper shower cap. Talked to the nurse, the anesthetist and the surgeon and was wheeled in to the operating room. Shuffled from the reasonably comfy stretcher bed to the rock hard operating table. I always love how the anesthetist stands behind you so you can't see when they are going to knock you out. Put the oxygen mask on, but I never knew oxygen smelled that funny, and they say to me 'okay, you're going to feel a little tired" as I feel the cold enter my IV site. It's at this point whenever I have surgery I raise my right hand and spread my fingers. As soon as I start to feel it, I start counting down from 5. I usually get to 1 finger and the next thing I knew, I was in recovery. All done. I don't know what's worse, having the surgery or trying to come out of the drugs. I apologized to the nurse in the room ahead of time for anything bad I might say, because I have no idea what I'm saying.
I needed to go the bathroom and DAMN that hurt. Not so much peeing itself, but my kidney, WOW! Quite a bit of blood, but that was to be expected from shoving god knows how many tools up that tiny tube to get to my kidney. My wife came to take my home, but I don't remember the drive home, at all.....not at all. At least I can eat now. I hadn't eaten since Thursday morning.
I have to go back in 10 days to pull out the stint that was left in and find out all the details about how the surgery went from the surgeon.
Let's hope it's another 15 years before I have to go through this again....
I was still able to go to the bathroom which was good, but the Dr wanted a CT scan. I had it later in the day and had to wait in Emerg for my results. When I finally got to talk with the Dr, it wasn't what I wanted to hear but it was what I feared. I had numerous stones and needed surgery. He made me an apt with a urologist right away and walked across the parking lot to another building to talk with her.....again, not what I wanted to hear. She told me, and showed me, I had 2 5mm stones in the kidney, one 4mm stone at the end of the tube near the bladder and one 1.3cm stone at the entrance to the kidney....no wonder it hurt! They wanted to go in with a laser and get them out because she said there would be no way I would pass these on my own. It was scheduled that night and I went home to wait the few hours until I had to return. BUT, just after getting home, the hospital called cancelling until the next day.
Well, things sure have changed in the procedures in surgery prep since my last surgery 15 years ago. I was given a bag of warm "wet wipes" and was told before I put my gown on, wipe my body down with these wipes which you don't rinse off. Weird feeling after you put the gown on. Lots of questions from the nurses, that's the same, but now they lay a full length plastic bag under the blanket and then hook up said bag to a large blue vacuum-looking machine which blows warm air into the bag. The nurse explaining that keeping the patient warm lowers the chance of infections. I'm all for that! Got my IV in and now had to wait for my time which felt like forever, but it did come and was wheeled down to the OR waiting area where I had to answer all the questions again and got to wear the fancy blue paper shower cap. Talked to the nurse, the anesthetist and the surgeon and was wheeled in to the operating room. Shuffled from the reasonably comfy stretcher bed to the rock hard operating table. I always love how the anesthetist stands behind you so you can't see when they are going to knock you out. Put the oxygen mask on, but I never knew oxygen smelled that funny, and they say to me 'okay, you're going to feel a little tired" as I feel the cold enter my IV site. It's at this point whenever I have surgery I raise my right hand and spread my fingers. As soon as I start to feel it, I start counting down from 5. I usually get to 1 finger and the next thing I knew, I was in recovery. All done. I don't know what's worse, having the surgery or trying to come out of the drugs. I apologized to the nurse in the room ahead of time for anything bad I might say, because I have no idea what I'm saying.
I needed to go the bathroom and DAMN that hurt. Not so much peeing itself, but my kidney, WOW! Quite a bit of blood, but that was to be expected from shoving god knows how many tools up that tiny tube to get to my kidney. My wife came to take my home, but I don't remember the drive home, at all.....not at all. At least I can eat now. I hadn't eaten since Thursday morning.
I have to go back in 10 days to pull out the stint that was left in and find out all the details about how the surgery went from the surgeon.
Let's hope it's another 15 years before I have to go through this again....
Saturday, August 8, 2015
Crohnie Quote of the Day
This one involves love and relationships when it comes to us living with any illness...
If a person wants to be a part of your life, they will make an obvious effort to do so. Think twice before reserving a space in your heart for people who do not make an effort to stay.
If a person wants to be a part of your life, they will make an obvious effort to do so. Think twice before reserving a space in your heart for people who do not make an effort to stay.
Monday, August 3, 2015
Anti-TNF's
Not having any success with anti-TNF's? Wish there was something else? There's a new study about new drugs for those of us on anti-TNF's that aren't working like they should, or we would hope. I personally have had great success with Remicade, so I cannot participate....
Check them out here:
http://www.celeststudy.com/verncrohns
If you can help, great and I thank you in advance.
Check them out here:
http://www.celeststudy.com/verncrohns
If you can help, great and I thank you in advance.
Thursday, July 30, 2015
You Might Be A Crohnie
If you lose count how many times you go to the bathroom in the middle of the night
...you might be a Crohnie
...you might be a Crohnie
Saturday, July 18, 2015
You Might Be A Crohnie
If you start naming your kidney stones like they do with hurricanes...
you might be a Crohnie
you might be a Crohnie
Saturday, July 11, 2015
Crohn's Disease-Inspired Tattoos
Healthline.com has spent the past few months gathering tattoos inspired from Crohn's disease and now have posted them to their website.
Check them out here......
http://www.healthline.com/health-slideshow/crohns-tattoos
Nice job Healthline !! and Thanks!!
- Vern
Check them out here......
http://www.healthline.com/health-slideshow/crohns-tattoos
Nice job Healthline !! and Thanks!!
- Vern
Wednesday, July 8, 2015
Remicade: Day 1078
It's been a rough couple of weeks between me and my Crohn's so it was a welcome relief when infusion day comes along.
Last night I awoke to pain on my right flank and anyone that's had it knows, it was a kidney stone. I had my wife take me to ER and for the second time in as many weeks, there was no one waiting and I got in right away. They hooked me up with an IV and was putting in pain meds before the nurse came by to take my blood. And right after that, they started pumping in water. I went through 2 bags in an hour and was out of the ER in about 3 hours. The pain was lingering but it was more of an ache than a pain, so that made me happy! A little while later and it was all gone. Not sure if I passed it or not, but for now...no pain makes me a happy boy.
Last night I awoke to pain on my right flank and anyone that's had it knows, it was a kidney stone. I had my wife take me to ER and for the second time in as many weeks, there was no one waiting and I got in right away. They hooked me up with an IV and was putting in pain meds before the nurse came by to take my blood. And right after that, they started pumping in water. I went through 2 bags in an hour and was out of the ER in about 3 hours. The pain was lingering but it was more of an ache than a pain, so that made me happy! A little while later and it was all gone. Not sure if I passed it or not, but for now...no pain makes me a happy boy.
Sunday, July 5, 2015
You Might Be A Crohnie
If you can drink all day long and still be dehydrated...
...you might be a Crohnie
...you might be a Crohnie
Sunday, June 28, 2015
Awakened Sleep
It's been a while since my last post but as all us Crohnies know, flares happen.
After a week of suffering and "putting it off" because, you know, it'll just go away....I checked myself in to the ER with yet another perianal abscess.....fun.
To my shock and surprise, the ER was empty! No really! It was 8 in the morning and not a patient in site. After all the back and forth with the triage nurse and check in nurse, she said to have a seat and they'll call my name. I always find this humorous because I just told them I can't sit. I tried to make myself comfortable while I wait, but I ended up standing while I waited.
It didn't take too long to give me the call and then the slow walk through the maze of corridors to the awaiting bed. Now normally I wouldn't say these ER beds are comfy, but in my condition, it was like laying on a bed of soft kittens. The relief of just laying down taking the pressure off the abscess was all it took.
The nurse was there right way ready to put in an IV line and hooked me up with some sugar water to keep me hydrated and to give me pain meds. The morphine and gravol couldn't come soon enough and boy it works fast, but the pain still was more than I like. The pressure alone from the abscess produces so much pain, it would drop even the strongest man.
The doctor finally came and told me what I already knew, let's cut the damn thing open!
About three hours after coming in to the ER, I was surrounded by 2 doctors and 4 nurses ready to do the procedure in an "awakened sleep". One doctor to administer the drugs, one to do the cutting, one nurse acting as the RT (to watch my breathing), one to take notes as the doctor talks and two student nurses...to just watch and learn. As much as I love being "put out", the awakened sleep is freaky as it happens! They use propofol (and another drug I can't remember). When it starts I feel very disoriented as it starts to take effect, BUT, what's going on in my head is hard to describe. It's like when a train approaches and gets louder and louder. It's so "noisy" in my head I want to scream because I can still hear everyone talking but it's like all 6 of them are screaming in my ears right before I'm out.
And just like that, I start to awaken. It's done. The pressure pain is done, but now I have to deal with packing and incision pain....but the worst of all that is trying to "come to".
I can hear the nurse calling my name and telling me to take deep breathes, but the disorientation is disconcerting. I don't know how people do these kind of drugs for "fun" and on purpose... really?!
Hopefully it heals up nice......
After a week of suffering and "putting it off" because, you know, it'll just go away....I checked myself in to the ER with yet another perianal abscess.....fun.
To my shock and surprise, the ER was empty! No really! It was 8 in the morning and not a patient in site. After all the back and forth with the triage nurse and check in nurse, she said to have a seat and they'll call my name. I always find this humorous because I just told them I can't sit. I tried to make myself comfortable while I wait, but I ended up standing while I waited.
It didn't take too long to give me the call and then the slow walk through the maze of corridors to the awaiting bed. Now normally I wouldn't say these ER beds are comfy, but in my condition, it was like laying on a bed of soft kittens. The relief of just laying down taking the pressure off the abscess was all it took.
The nurse was there right way ready to put in an IV line and hooked me up with some sugar water to keep me hydrated and to give me pain meds. The morphine and gravol couldn't come soon enough and boy it works fast, but the pain still was more than I like. The pressure alone from the abscess produces so much pain, it would drop even the strongest man.
The doctor finally came and told me what I already knew, let's cut the damn thing open!
About three hours after coming in to the ER, I was surrounded by 2 doctors and 4 nurses ready to do the procedure in an "awakened sleep". One doctor to administer the drugs, one to do the cutting, one nurse acting as the RT (to watch my breathing), one to take notes as the doctor talks and two student nurses...to just watch and learn. As much as I love being "put out", the awakened sleep is freaky as it happens! They use propofol (and another drug I can't remember). When it starts I feel very disoriented as it starts to take effect, BUT, what's going on in my head is hard to describe. It's like when a train approaches and gets louder and louder. It's so "noisy" in my head I want to scream because I can still hear everyone talking but it's like all 6 of them are screaming in my ears right before I'm out.
And just like that, I start to awaken. It's done. The pressure pain is done, but now I have to deal with packing and incision pain....but the worst of all that is trying to "come to".
I can hear the nurse calling my name and telling me to take deep breathes, but the disorientation is disconcerting. I don't know how people do these kind of drugs for "fun" and on purpose... really?!
Hopefully it heals up nice......
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