Warning: This is David. If you are looking for cute quotes from the boys and don’t want to hear an update on my medical condition, then you may want to skip the next few posts…
As many of you know, I’ve been battling Crohn’s disease for nearly two decades. This disease manifests itself in the GI tract and varies in severity from causing minor diarrhea to destroying the large and small intestines, leading to death. My particular brand is on the more aggressive side, as it has already destroyed my large intestine which I’ve had to have surgically removed.
As a result of my surgeries, I now have portions of my bowel surgically reconnected, and these areas tend to form scar tissue and become narrower, a condition called a stricture. As part of my ongoing treatment, I need to have these strictures widened periodically, using endoscopic procedures. Last Friday, 2/19/2016, I went in for sigmoidoscopy (lower-end… we’ll leave it there) to dilate my stricture and to see how my Crohn’s was coming along.
During the procedure, I was administered a heavy pain killer and a narcotic and, consequently, I have no recollection of the follow-up consult with the physician -- I only have vague recollections of some nurse aid calling me “Big D” (which is better than dinky diddums… I guess.) However, when I finally “came to,” Larisa shared two things with me: first, there is a new procedure available, and instead of dilating my stricture with a balloon, the doctor had widened it by using “needle knives” to cut out the scar tissue and, second, the beautiful news that there was no sign of active Crohn’s disease. The doctor said we could consider the Crohn’s to be in remission.
Praise God for this good news! I would gladly repeat the last several days if doing so would ensure such a good report.
However, as I will share in future posts, we were not able to savor the moment for long, especially since the narcotics didn’t wear off for about an hour after the procedure. Following is an executive summary of the events following my procedure:
- I experienced heavy bleeding
- I passed out three times
- I went to the ER twice
- I received three units of blood
- I ended up in the ICU two nights
- I experienced a miracle
To be continued....
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