Hello all!
My name is Rita, I'm 16 years old and I'm from Portugal.
I was recently diagnosed with Crohn's disease and this is all new to me and my family.
I started having problems about 1 year ago. It started with blood showing up on the stool and then it got worse to the point where I would have serious abdominal pain on my right side. My doctor said it could be a small wound inside my rectum. I was transferred to a doctor specialized with these types of problems and made a treatment with ointment for about a week, blood tests and ultrasounds. Then, everything got worse. I was also having a severe anemia at the moment and was taking medicine because of it.
On August 24th 2015, I was rushed to the hospital with serious abdominal pain and was unable to walk straight with the pain. I was taken in, examined by a doctor and a surgeon and was sent to the ICU. During the night I stayed at the ICU, my feces were pure blood.
Everyone thought I had an severe appendicitis, however, the ultrasound revealed that my organs were okay, so they decided to hospitalize me until they found out what was wrong with me. It was a pure nightmare, I thought I was dying.
I was losing a lot of blood. I would wake up at 3-4am just to run to the toilet because I wasn't feeling alright. No one knew what I had, no one could find out. Some said it was a bacteria, others said it could be cancer because my family from my father's side had cancer patients in the past (I lost my grandfather 3 years ago, he had cancer in the intestines.).
I was extremely depressed. I reached a point where I would refuse to eat and drink. I lost a ton of weight (I was 42kg when I was hospitalized and reached 36kg by the time I left) and was sicker and sicker day by day. The nurses were always mad at me because I was being "childish" and "didn't want to get better".
The only happy moments I had was when the priest would visit me and talk with me and when I was allowed to leave my bedroom and play with the little children that were hospitalized there as well. I was the oldest one at that time, they would call me "Big Sister", visit my room and knock on the door and ask me to play with them and go for a walk. They eventually started leaving one by one, cured and happy with themselves. It saddened me to be left alone but my family was there to support me.
I started getting medicated on the last few days I spent in my nearby hospital before being transferred to another hospital. I can't tell you exactly what the medicine was because the nurses would take it in a cup and would just give it to me. I also did a thing called Enema.
Seeing that I wasn't getting any better, my gastric specialized doctor filled in a transfer paper and I was transferred to a specialized hospital for children in the capital city where I decided to "cure" myself in 5 days. That was my goal. I was sick and tired of the hospital atmosphere, I wanted to go to school, see my friends and have a good time with them.
I kept doing the same exams there and had my medicine changed (again, I can't tell you exactly what it was, they had the same process), the nurses were really nice and everyone took great care of me when my parents weren't around. I also met two little girls that shared the same room as me and we became friends. Their parents were good people as well. My gastric specialized doctor would visit me every day to check on my condition and the interns there would check up on me too.
I "cured" myself in 4 days. They said there was no need for me to stay there since the medicine was keeping the symptoms away and I wasn't loosing blood as often, I was eating well again and was gaining weight. Everyone was proud to see me in such good spirit and decided to reward me with an early leave.
During the time I was at the hospital I would feel things around me, like arms holding me and protecting me. I don't know if any of you believes in this stuff but it was sort of relaxing. I would see my deceased grandfather in my dreams, sometimes giving me long speeches and other times just standing by a large door smiling. I knew it was him because he was always wearing his hat. I would tell this to my father and my grandma and they would smile and say it was nice of him to visit me and keep an eye for me. Just remembering him made me feel stronger.
I kept doing exams and regular checkups. My family supports me all the time. My friends keep a close eye on me to see if something's wrong or not (they even write down the time I take my medicine to prove to my mother I actually took it and my boyfriend punishes me if I eat something I shouldn't eat and they also tease me a lot about it hahah).
Last week I had a colonoscopy and endoscopy and they finally found out that I had indeed Crohn's disease. It was sort of relieving because it wasn't cancer like my grandfather had and I can control it even thought it's something that will leave with me forever.
I have many questions that I would like to find answers for, but right now I want to just check up on my health and pursue my dreams - I want to write a book, it has always been my dream. I want to grow up, marry and have kids and live this world with dignity regardless of what conditions I have.
I currently take Imuran twice a day, it's my life saver.
This is the story of a 16 years old girl that has just started this long journey in life. :thumleft:
My name is Rita, I'm 16 years old and I'm from Portugal.
I was recently diagnosed with Crohn's disease and this is all new to me and my family.
I started having problems about 1 year ago. It started with blood showing up on the stool and then it got worse to the point where I would have serious abdominal pain on my right side. My doctor said it could be a small wound inside my rectum. I was transferred to a doctor specialized with these types of problems and made a treatment with ointment for about a week, blood tests and ultrasounds. Then, everything got worse. I was also having a severe anemia at the moment and was taking medicine because of it.
On August 24th 2015, I was rushed to the hospital with serious abdominal pain and was unable to walk straight with the pain. I was taken in, examined by a doctor and a surgeon and was sent to the ICU. During the night I stayed at the ICU, my feces were pure blood.
Everyone thought I had an severe appendicitis, however, the ultrasound revealed that my organs were okay, so they decided to hospitalize me until they found out what was wrong with me. It was a pure nightmare, I thought I was dying.
I was losing a lot of blood. I would wake up at 3-4am just to run to the toilet because I wasn't feeling alright. No one knew what I had, no one could find out. Some said it was a bacteria, others said it could be cancer because my family from my father's side had cancer patients in the past (I lost my grandfather 3 years ago, he had cancer in the intestines.).
I was extremely depressed. I reached a point where I would refuse to eat and drink. I lost a ton of weight (I was 42kg when I was hospitalized and reached 36kg by the time I left) and was sicker and sicker day by day. The nurses were always mad at me because I was being "childish" and "didn't want to get better".
The only happy moments I had was when the priest would visit me and talk with me and when I was allowed to leave my bedroom and play with the little children that were hospitalized there as well. I was the oldest one at that time, they would call me "Big Sister", visit my room and knock on the door and ask me to play with them and go for a walk. They eventually started leaving one by one, cured and happy with themselves. It saddened me to be left alone but my family was there to support me.
I started getting medicated on the last few days I spent in my nearby hospital before being transferred to another hospital. I can't tell you exactly what the medicine was because the nurses would take it in a cup and would just give it to me. I also did a thing called Enema.
Seeing that I wasn't getting any better, my gastric specialized doctor filled in a transfer paper and I was transferred to a specialized hospital for children in the capital city where I decided to "cure" myself in 5 days. That was my goal. I was sick and tired of the hospital atmosphere, I wanted to go to school, see my friends and have a good time with them.
I kept doing the same exams there and had my medicine changed (again, I can't tell you exactly what it was, they had the same process), the nurses were really nice and everyone took great care of me when my parents weren't around. I also met two little girls that shared the same room as me and we became friends. Their parents were good people as well. My gastric specialized doctor would visit me every day to check on my condition and the interns there would check up on me too.
I "cured" myself in 4 days. They said there was no need for me to stay there since the medicine was keeping the symptoms away and I wasn't loosing blood as often, I was eating well again and was gaining weight. Everyone was proud to see me in such good spirit and decided to reward me with an early leave.
During the time I was at the hospital I would feel things around me, like arms holding me and protecting me. I don't know if any of you believes in this stuff but it was sort of relaxing. I would see my deceased grandfather in my dreams, sometimes giving me long speeches and other times just standing by a large door smiling. I knew it was him because he was always wearing his hat. I would tell this to my father and my grandma and they would smile and say it was nice of him to visit me and keep an eye for me. Just remembering him made me feel stronger.
I kept doing exams and regular checkups. My family supports me all the time. My friends keep a close eye on me to see if something's wrong or not (they even write down the time I take my medicine to prove to my mother I actually took it and my boyfriend punishes me if I eat something I shouldn't eat and they also tease me a lot about it hahah).
Last week I had a colonoscopy and endoscopy and they finally found out that I had indeed Crohn's disease. It was sort of relieving because it wasn't cancer like my grandfather had and I can control it even thought it's something that will leave with me forever.
I have many questions that I would like to find answers for, but right now I want to just check up on my health and pursue my dreams - I want to write a book, it has always been my dream. I want to grow up, marry and have kids and live this world with dignity regardless of what conditions I have.
I currently take Imuran twice a day, it's my life saver.
This is the story of a 16 years old girl that has just started this long journey in life. :thumleft:
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