About a month ago, I was back in the hospital, so much for trying to stay out during COVID. Honestly, I would be back in the ER with my luck (ugh). My stomach pains were pretty bad again and I honestly had no idea what was going on. It did feel like my Crohn’s trying to come on out and say, “Helloooo again”–  after a few rounds of pain meds and labs-  they kinda came back looking like another flare- my C-reactive was NORMAL—my white blood count was not—the doctor still wanted to do a CT SCAN just to be sure because where my pain was could have indicated a blockage—

I am allergic to the CT contrast, so I need to be premedicated. I am always very hesitant about any more testing because I have honestly had so much radiation my insides are glowing! The CT SCAN showed a partial blockage. They said that they were unsure if it was scar tissue causing this narrowing or if it was my body attacking itself again.

              Last time I was this sick, I had fistulas that were bypassing my intestines and it was nightmare!

I was told to take steroids and Cipro and wait till my GI’s office called me.

              My GI and I do not really see eye to eye and last time I saw him, he already wanted to put me on a biologic to help prevent anything from happening ( like this) I just already knew he was going to say, “I TOLD YOU SO”!

              When my GI called me, he said he wanted to repeat the CT after a week of the steroids to see if that made any difference in the narrowing and then they would discuss my prognosis.

  Well, a week came and went and so did the horrible steroid side effects! I honestly wouldn’t wish Prednisone on my worst enemy. I redid the CT and waited two days till I got the call…. the call that pretty told me NOTHING!

He said the narrowing had gotten better because the contrast was able to move at a faster rate but that he did think it might be scar tissue and that surgery would be the only fix if that was the case. They increased my dosage of steroids to see if a high dosage would shake things up a notch. He said that after a month begin the taper process and that they would repeat labs and see if the infection was better. If for some reason it was not, then we might need to consider TPN again to let the intestine heal.

              The last time I did TPN it was 14 hours hooked up and I did not have to worry about a toddler running around!

I am still on this month of taper and am feeling the horrible effects of Prednisone. My knees hurt, my head has been killing me, and I want to eat all the time!!!! I will say this time around I have not had the puffy moon face, but I have gained some weight. I AM just praying I do not need surgery and it was just a flare.

I am now more so immunocompromised and very much afraid of going out anywhere during COVID. I am still working from home which is a relief in that sense.

I have backed off from my home workouts because my joints are hurting, and I am so tired. Fatigue has been rough this go around, and I am not looking to add any more stress to my body! Two more weeks of this waiting game!

-XO,