christineruth's Journey with Crohn's Disease

lost 18 kilos in 12 months while training to be an Enrolled Nurse.Was being treated for Diverticulitis, but felt worse.One day the pain was so sever down my [r]side, vomiting, i went to family doctor.He suggested hospital, gave me an injection of morphine, & into hospital.Took 24 hrs to decide to opperate & lucky they did as my bowel was ready to perforate.Later the surgeon said i must have been in agony, as my bowel was stretched to the max with puss, if that had burst i wouldv'e died.Any way after 30+ operations i am still here.Along the way due to Short Bowel Syndrome, i have Chronic Renal Failure, due to severe dehydration from illeostomy performed when i was 40, & had all large, most of small bowel removed, rectum removed, & anus closed.I pass roughly 4-5 litres of watery fluid from illeostomy each day.I have a Porta Cath inserted, in fact my 2nd, i hook up to an I.V machine daily, & pass 2 litres of Normal Saline, to keep my body hydrated, drink numerous amounts of fluid, but slowly, this way i have a better chance of absorbing what i drink.Am Lactose Intolerant which is easy to just change my milk, & now gluten Intolerant which is an ongoing learning process.Only 2 x Xmas's ago i was in hospital, in ICU, with Double Pneumonia.Was told by head doctor i need to be put on a ventilator as my lungs were so tired of trying to breathe properly , if i did not agree by the next morning i would probably go into Respiratory Distress, and not make it.My lungs were so sticky with puss to all the alveoli that pass oxygen & carbon dioxide into & out of the blood vessels in the lungs.This is called ARDS.Out of 300, 000 people, 30 would get ARDS, & 13 to 15 people would die.Not good odds on my side.Any way they placed me in an Induced Coma for 26 days, & in this time they performed a tracheotomy to help my breathing.Once they bought me out of the coma i still had pneumonia, the antibiotics i was on i became allergic to & they gave me Haemolytic Anemia and needed 8 units of full blood.Finally after 51/2 weeks i went home.I will never , ever take breathing for granted again.That is a guarantee.

Majority have been Bowel Resections, Division of Adhesions, and the making of an Illeostomy.