Life's Grand, But Bowels Need A Rest

     So readers...I told you about my interview experience, and I believe that most of my issues were related to stress.  However, earlier this week I received a phone call extending me the job offer.  So I graciously accepted, and can't wait to begin.  Looks like my inner struggle was only inner, and I succeeded at selling myself and not my disease.  YAY ME :)! Thank you for all the kind words, and encouragement during my waiting game.
     This week I have been in Niagara Falls visiting my grandma, and I think I need to return home to give my bowels a chance to clean out.  I've been eating food that is healthy minus her cinnamon rolls, but I am constantly snacking here and my stomach is like enough already but I can't seem to stop.  I'm not even bored it's just everything looks so appetizing so I take a bite of it.  My intestines are begging for a holiday of their own.  I believe that Metamucil will become my best friend this weekend just so I can help my intestines out.
    It's been an amazing getaway, but I miss my man.  Next time I come up he's coming too.  I've grown up around the falls, and I've made many visits and don't always get to the falls, which is a ten minute walk from her house.  This time though I've walked the falls, and last night went to Buffalo on a wine and wind sailboat cruise.  It was amazing.

 

The plan was to stay until Friday, but I may pack up and head home this evening.  The nice thing about this mini-vacation is that I can make split second decisions.  So I am going to go back to sipping my tea on the front porch, and continue to not have a care in the world. 

 

 

    **A quick note:  My grandmother owns a Bed and Breakfast and Wedding Chapel right on Rainbow Blvd.  If you are looking for a getaway I encourage you to make a trip here if you can.  Her website is http://www.aromanticweddingchapel.com/bbhome.php3

If you'd like to have a small intimate elopement she also has a wedding chapel.  Check it out!**

 

I hope everyone enjoys their week/weekend.

Take Care!

Getting through an Interview

So today I had an interview, and I've never been able to relate to a commercial as the one I have posted above.  I'm sure you all have seen it and for those fellow crohn's casualties you've experienced it first hand.  Well this is the first time I've been worried or concentrated about my Crohn's in an interview.  Prior to walking into the interview I felt as though I needed to poop, but thought eh I'll hold it.  Now Crohn's casualties you understand it was brave of me to even consider holding it let alone make that my final option.  Let me explain, I have not have any issues with flare-ups lately so I thought I'd be ok.
I pulled into the parking lot early so I sat in the car and decided that I could hold it and wasn't going to find a gas station.  When it was 15 minutes prior to my interview I walked in and checked in with the receptionist.  She told me that it would be a little bit before my interviewer came out, and directed me over to a seating area.  While I was listening to her explain where to go I could feel my intestines wrenching...no abdominal pain but they were wrenching.  I tried to focus, but I kept thinking well maybe I should of went to the bathroom it was too late at this point.  So I sat in the seating area and waited.  While my intestines continued to gurgle I just kept thinking that I hope they aren't loud during my interview.  I attempted to remember my interview rules so I didn't fidget in the waiting area, and reviewed my resume trying to put my mind on something else knowing that the receptionist was watching my every move.  She was my 1st impression, and I believe I left a good one.  The interviewer called me into the room, and I thought ok think of anything besides your stomach.  Well that worked well for the first ten minutes and then the gurgling started.  I heard it and I'm sure she did too, but it was just a little noise then disappeared.  I was able to focus and finish the first part of the interview.
The noise or wrenching didn't return the whole interview.  It's as if my body knew this was an important moment and it needed to behave.  My intestines behaved, and I am now home so they can do as they'd like now.  I believe the interview went well, and I should know by tomorrow evening if I've been offered the job. 
So readers I hope I have your well wishes because I've sent out resumes to 50 different positions, and this is only the 2nd phone call I've received regarding a position.  It's extremely discouraging, and proves that the economy hasn't fully mended yet.
Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend.
Take Care.

Pentasa and side effects

     So I have been taking Pentasa for 2.5 months.  It's extremely costly for me, but it has put me into a stable state along with my Remicade.  I thought ok I can spare the expense if it means that I will be able to live a semi-normal life in regards to health.  In the past 7-10 days however, I have noticed that I have hives, headaches, and frequent urination.
The other night I jumped to the Internet in an unrelated search to find, if any, long term effects of Pentasa, and make sure that there wasn't a trade-off to being in Crohn's remission now and have something like liver failure later as a result of the medicine.  What I found was that there isn't a long term trade-off to Pentasa, which calmed that nerve, but what I read irritated another.  My symptoms that I have noticed may be side effects to Pentasa.  If this is the case I'm left asking myself "now what."  I've been on so many medicines prior to surgery, and after surgery I struggled to get my Crohn's under control.  So now my Crohn's is under control, but my body doesn't like the medicine I am taking...Enter a sarcastic "AWESOME" here. 
     According to http://www.drugs.com/pentasa.html, http://treato.com/Pentasa,Frequent+Urination/?a=s, and http://www.gihealth.com/html/education/drugs/pentasa.html these websites list side effects and potential causes of the said side effects.  The first thing that I read was the importance of taking Pentasa as prescribed.  I'm sure you are thinking "well DUH," but I've mentioned before my issue with taking medicine.  I was able to swallow the pills whole for about 2 months.  I then resorted to just swallowing the contents inside the capsules.  I learned that Pentasa is a timed release formula and the capsule along with the granules inside are designed so that Pentasa releases it's medicine into the intestine, where our issues of inflammation with Crohn's relies.  Even though I have been taking the medicine improperly for the last month or less I have not had any flare related issues.  I have just been experiencing frequent urination and my bladder is always full each time, wicked headaches that I put on the low side of a migraine, and hives that are itchy....combined this is all very irritating.
  Now I am taking the pills as prescribed for the 2nd day in a row.  I still have all side effects, and the headache is unbearable at times.  I've determined to continue taking the medicine for a total of 4 days as prescribed originally to see if there is any subsiding of side effects.  If there isn't any progress then I shall call my doctor, and make an appointment to discuss the experiences I am having with Pentasa.
     I am nervous about what medicine is next.  My gastro tried to prescribe Cipro and Flagyl prior to Pentasa, but I had to take those both after surgery and I puked trying to take the two.  When I did get Cipro and Flagyl down I was nauseous through out the whole day.  So I'd be less than thrilled to take those again. 
     I've been discussing all natural medicines with my friend Tori, and at the start of next week I should have them to take.  1 of them is for controlling my anemia, and raising my iron intake levels.  The other is to help repair the intestinal tract that has been damaged due to Crohn's.  If I'm going to become allergic to Pentasa then I hope that the 2nd medicine could potentially substitute Pentasa, and work with my Remicade infusions.
     The life of a Crohn's Casualty is always so medically interesting.  I'm getting extremely tired of this non-constant life.  I wish for everyone a splendid week.
Take Care!

What is Crohn's

This is the best blog post that I have seen describing what is Crohn's.  All credit of this post goes to The Crohn's and Colitis Effect, and the link to the blog is http://cceffect.org/feature/what-is-crohns-disease/



Crohn’s Disease is a type of Inflammatory Bowel Disease that affects the gastrointestinal tract between the mouth and the anus. Crohn’s Disease is an immune deficiency disease whereby the immune system attacks the bacteria in the gastrointestinal tract causing inflammation throughout the body. It’s estimated that roughly one million people within North America and Europe are currently diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease.

Symptoms of Crohn’s Disease can be diarrhea and bloody stools, frequent and irregular trips to the bathroom, abdominal pain, vomiting and weight loss. Crohn’s Disease can also lead to other complications outside of the intestinal tract such as chronic fatigue, inflammation of the eye, skin rashes including pyoderma gangrenosum, rheumatoid arthritis, and fistulas.
While Crohn’s Disease can be diagnosed at any age, most diagnoses are between the ages of fifteen through twenty four and again between fifty through seventy. Tests used to diagnose Crohn’s Disease are similar to that of Inflammatory Bowel Disease and can include colonoscopy, endoscopy, CT scan, biopsies of the gastrointestinal tract, and blood tests.
Currently, there is no known cure for Crohn’s Disease. Patients work toward managing the disease to achieve periods of remission. Managing the disease usually entails diet, medication, surgery, and lifestyle changes. It should be noted that surgery can not cure Crohn’s Disease but is used to remove parts of the gastrointestinal tract that have been heavily damaged by the disease. It can also be necessary for repairing strictures and for ileostomies.
Several medications are currently used to aid in achieving remission. Those include 5-aminosalicylic acid ( 5-ASA ), prednisone, Infliximab ( Remicade ), Methotrexate, Mercaptopurine ( 6-MP ), and Azathioprine.
The ability to achieve remission, regardless of medication, surgery, diet, or lifestyle change will be different for each patient as Crohn’s Disease affects each patient differently. Some may be able to achieve remission just through biological medication, others will need a few or a combination of efforts.

A Bird Bus Romance

     The weather here today is cloudy, and kind of makes me gloomy.  So to brighten up my spirits, and yours I thought I'd finally share the story of Seth and I.  This is not our current love story this is one from a younger age.  It starts when we were just in elementary school but it's our beginning, and every love story is beautiful, but ours is my favorite.

      So I have mentioned before that Seth and I have known each other since we were in elementary school.  We lived exactly 1 mile from one another until I was 17.  Seth and I got our start on the Bird Bus, this is the bus we rode to and from school everyday.  I was in 5th grade, and he was in 4th.  So we got our start innocently enough.  Him and I would sit together on the bus, and it slips my mind as to who asked who out but we were dating.  Elementary school dating is very innocent...we sat together on the bus, sometimes we'd hold hands, and occasionaly we'd sit together at lunch.  That was dating, but he was my boyfriend for the whole year, which is a lifetime when you are that young.  He was teased a lot by his older brother and friends for dating me, it was all in good fun, but the ribbing probably started to get to him.
     We used to have Field day at the end of each school year.  All that meant is it was a structured free for all at school.  We ate lunch outside, played games at different stations, and were allowed time to just sit with friends.  The morning of Field day I kissed Seth for the 1st time in our long relationship on the cheek.  The poor boy spooked, and at lunch time during Field day he sent his best friend Phil to break up with me.  Phil approached me, and my friend Katrina and said that Seth was breaking up with me.  He had no explanation and just walked away after that.  So I've always been a little confrontational and I walked up to Seth, and bullied him into telling me why he broke up with me and had sent his best friend to do it.  I gave him a bunch of grief for not doing it himself, and he finally said it was cause I moved too fast (kissing his cheek was too fast).  I believe he to this days is one of only 5 boys to break up with me, and he is the only 1 who sent their best friend to do it.  :)  We were in 4th and 5th grade...the relationship was bound to end anyways because we wouldn't see each other all summer.  I was heart broken for probably about 3 days, but I will admit I held some resentment against Phil for the next year or 2.
     After the summer break it was like nothing had happened, and Seth and I had remained friends all through out high school, and continued to stay in touch during college.  I found out after we got together this time that he broke up with me because I scared him.  He just didn't know how to handle an older woman at the time. :)  Now he embraces my age, and reminds me all the time that I'm older than him (1 year, 4 months, and 10 days).  There is a country song by Ronnie Mcdowell, and when ever it comes on the radio Seth will blast it cause "Older women are beautiful lovers..."
     I love him very much, and I'm so blessed to have him by my side through it all.  I hope everyone has a wonderful week.
Take care!