Thank you CCFA for the exercise.

Jun4

On Sunday, June 4th, I took part in the Take Steps for Crohn’s and Colitis organized by The Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America. It was held in Liberty State Park in Jersey City, New Jersey. I never realized just how historic this park was until I got there. There boats for tours to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty leave from here. What makes them historic is that immigrants used to come here and catch a train to either New York or further into New Jersey.

When we arrived, it was raining a little, but not too much. By the time I reached the check in tent, it had stopped. My wife and I checked in and then walked the grounds waiting for the start of the walk. I had brought my dog along because she likes walking and could use the exercise. While my wife rested, my dog wanted to start and ran around.

At 5:00 they called everyone to the start line and we were off. Now, I knew ahead of time that the walk was 3 miles and in the past I would have had no problem with that. I didn’t realize just how far it is until I started walking. We walked 1.5 miles one way, turned around, and walked back. At the 1 mile mark, my legs were starting to feel the burn. My little dog seemed to be holding up better than me.

During the walk, the sun was shining and it was beautiful. On the way back though, the sky got dark and the rain came. My wife was smart and had an umbrella but I forgot mine. I had a poncho in my backpack, but was too tired to take it out. As we reached the base camp, the rain stopped and we were greeted by a great site.

Overall, I had a good time. My legs were aching later that night and I was beat. My dog looked beat also and slepted real well. CCFA does this walk all over the country. This year was my first walk and I raised $506. I was worried I wouldn’t raise any so this amount shocked me. I plan on doing this again next year and hopefully I will be in better shape. The best part of the walk was seeing all the support for us sufferers of IBD. One group raised over $27,000. The love is out there for us. YEAH.

A Man With Crohn’s

May31

When I hear the word manly or macho, I tend to think of a guy, muscular, wearing a sports jersey, sitting on a couch surrounded by friends, chips and dip on the coffee table, watching football. I probably got this image thanks to numerous commercials depicting this. Some people may have a different image. Some tend to think of a tall lumberjack in plaid. Some may think of a fireman running through flames or a cop rescuing someone. Still others may think of a soldier in uniform fighting for his country, saving innocent people caught up in a crossfire. My point to this is no one thinks of a guy laying in bed double over in pain who has to jump out of bed to run to the bathroom. Then on his return trip to the bed, picks up a garbage can to vomit.

Sadly, that is what a lot of us go through with Crohn’s Disease. Growing up in the 80’s I was what we would now call a nerd. I was into video games, Dungeons & Dragons, playing with GI Joe figures and spend my Friday nights at Boy Scout meetings. I would watch some sports (Go Yankees). I never liked alcohol. I also was not a ladies man. I was never macho..but I was still a guy and acted as one. When I was 15 I got sick with Crohn’s and it would forever change me.

For about 2 weeks I was so sick I would stay in bed all the time. I lost a lot of weight and eventually ended up in the hospital where I got diagnosed. I was put on Azulfadine and eventually got better. When I was 16, I came down with pneumonia and this caused me to flare. I would not recover and missed my junior and senior year of High School. I was growing up, starting to form the person I would be and this was all taken away from me. I would spend my days in bed watching TV. I also started to learn to cook and do laundry since I was home and had nothing better to do. Let me tell you…this does not make you feel manly or macho.

Flash forward 23 years. I am now a grown adult still battling with Crohn’s. I have found my way in the world. I met the woman of my dreams. I do feel like a man now. I still love my Yankees and try to go to some games every year. I still cook, but that has become a man’s job now (Bobby Flay, Emerel Lagasse, Guy Fiere, Mario Batalli just to name some). I like beer (miss my Sam Adams now that I am gluten-free).

But I still have my pains. I still run to the bathroom. What my point is, as a guy, we can’t worry about image. We don’t have that luxury. Guys…you can feel weak. At times you will get depressed. You will have pain. You will have a fever. For some of us, we will spend time in a hospital unable to control anything. None of this make you less of a man or a person. Do not let social media tell you how you should be. You are a man no matter what. You are strong and can get through anything. If anyone tells you otherwise, then they aren’t worth your time.

It is not week to break down and cry sometimes. It is not weak to have pain and suffer from depression. It is human. We all go through it. You are not alone. You are still a man…no matter what.

Hump Day…What is Your Hump?

May31

Every Wednesday officially known as Hump Day. I started thinking, this would make a good blog. So my questionis…what and when was your hump? Now I am not talking about the dirty type of hump. I am talking about the bump in the road. I am talking about that little obstacle that slowed you down but didn’t’ stop you.

My hump happened in Dec 2011 & Jan 2012. In December for no reason at all I started going to the bathroom a lot. I don’t mean 10 times a day. I am talking 30. I spent almost all my time in the bathroom. And with these trips came the pain. Severe pain where I would double over and get teary eyed. I would take Imodium but that didn’t even touch me. Now at the time I was taking Metformin (Glucophage) for high blood glucose levels. I am now convinced this was the cause of my problems. I called my Endocrinologist and told him what was happening and he told me to stay on the pills. Needless to say, that was the last time I ever spoke with him and I took myself off the pills. I also tried to call my GI but he was on vacation. Luckily there was another great GI around he was prescribed me Lamotil. This was a lifesaver. It helped slow things down and the pain started to go away.

Now, I was starting to get things in order, but the underlying problem was still there. I was scheduled for a colonoscopy in February and I couldn’t wait for it. But I was scared at the same time as I kept thinking that things were going to be so bad that I was going to be told my colon has to come out. I stumbled into depression and felt so alone. I had no one to talk to that would understand what I am going through. The only person I knew of that could have helped me was my father in law because he had his intestines removed from Colitis…but he had passed away in May 2011. I was at the lowest point in my life…and had hit “The Hump”.

I decided to finally confront this disease that I have had for 23 years. I finally started to do some research online and found so many wonderful people. I heard so many inspiring stories and learned that even if I did lose my colon, my life would still go on. I started to have hope and determination to move on. I started climbing the hump.

At the end of January, I decided to take my life back into my own hands. I needed to lose weight and get my health back in order. I joined Weight Watchers and took a really big step by going Gluten Free.

When I finally had my colonoscopy, it turned out that not only was it not that bad but my ilium had healed to the point where you wouldn’t know it was diseased.

To date (May 2012) I have lost 16 lbs. I go to the bathroom about 3-4 times a day. I have little to no pain. I do have some issues still like a low Vitamin D level, but overall I am improving. My depression has subsided. I haven’t used Lamotil or Imodium in months. I have gotten over my hump.

I now know that no matter what life throws at me…I can take it. I can get through what ever comes my way.