I am sixteen years old and I am a junior in high school. For the most part I have always been healthy and rarely had to visit the doctor. But that all changed the summer of 2011 right before my junior year.
Everything happened so fast I was having major stomach cramps and I was having to run just to make sure I made it to the bathroom. I was waking up several times a night to have to go to the bathroom. I was going back and forth from my peditrician who was sure it was just a stomach bug but I could tell it was so much more.
About a week after this started I was only getting worse and I began to notice blood in my stool, so my mom took me to the hospital. And after spending 5 hours there being poked several times trying to draw blood they still sent me home with no answers. Just two days later I was feeling worse than I ever felt I was so nauseous. My mom took me to a GI doctor that day and she had me admitted to the hospital. I had a CT scan done of my abdomen and IV fluids because I was very dehydrated. I stayed overnight and after having three enemas I was schelduled for a colonoscopy. I was scared that something serious was wrong like I had colon cancer or something. The procedure took over two hours and I was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis that day. And now my whole life has changed.
It has now been seven months since my diagnosis and I am doing pretty well physically but the emotional toll it has taken on my body is so much worse. I was put on prednisone which has caused me to have stretch marks which I can't do anything about. And I have also gained weight that is just tough to get off. I also have went from hardly ever going to the doctor, to every 3 months having blood work done. I hate blood work because everytime I have it done I almost pass out and dry heave, it really scares me.
I hate this disease so much and I hate that I will be stuck with it forever. I am only sixteen but I feel like I'm forty sometimes my body has just been through so much and I'm scared about the future. I know I am going to have an increased risk of colon cancer and that really scares me. Sometimes I think about this and I just wish it wasn't me but then I feel like I'm being selfish because some kids have it alot worse than me.
And some days I feel really good and I feel like everything will be okay. But then some days I get so sad about it that I just want to cry. I don't know what to do.
Everything happened so fast I was having major stomach cramps and I was having to run just to make sure I made it to the bathroom. I was waking up several times a night to have to go to the bathroom. I was going back and forth from my peditrician who was sure it was just a stomach bug but I could tell it was so much more.
About a week after this started I was only getting worse and I began to notice blood in my stool, so my mom took me to the hospital. And after spending 5 hours there being poked several times trying to draw blood they still sent me home with no answers. Just two days later I was feeling worse than I ever felt I was so nauseous. My mom took me to a GI doctor that day and she had me admitted to the hospital. I had a CT scan done of my abdomen and IV fluids because I was very dehydrated. I stayed overnight and after having three enemas I was schelduled for a colonoscopy. I was scared that something serious was wrong like I had colon cancer or something. The procedure took over two hours and I was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis that day. And now my whole life has changed.
It has now been seven months since my diagnosis and I am doing pretty well physically but the emotional toll it has taken on my body is so much worse. I was put on prednisone which has caused me to have stretch marks which I can't do anything about. And I have also gained weight that is just tough to get off. I also have went from hardly ever going to the doctor, to every 3 months having blood work done. I hate blood work because everytime I have it done I almost pass out and dry heave, it really scares me.
I hate this disease so much and I hate that I will be stuck with it forever. I am only sixteen but I feel like I'm forty sometimes my body has just been through so much and I'm scared about the future. I know I am going to have an increased risk of colon cancer and that really scares me. Sometimes I think about this and I just wish it wasn't me but then I feel like I'm being selfish because some kids have it alot worse than me.
And some days I feel really good and I feel like everything will be okay. But then some days I get so sad about it that I just want to cry. I don't know what to do.