Caring for Crohn's & UC

Caring for Crohn’s & UC: Year in Review

December 31, 2012 at 3:49 pm Rebecca K. Leave a comment

This has been a great year for Caring for Crohn’s, both on the blog and personally.

After toying with the idea for several months, I finally launched the blog in June. After a few months on Tumblr, the blog was merged onto WordPress and now here we are!

In just six months, I wrote 73 posts and the blog received over 3,600 views, and gained 19 WordPress followers, 50 Tumblr followers, 124 Facebook fans, and 175 Twitter followers. Thank you all SO much for your readership and support– this blog branched out beyond my wildest dreams and I am so appreciative of all of you who made that happen.

Without further ado, here are some of the 2012 highlights for Caring for Crohn’s!

Personal IBD Highlights:

• 365 days with NO HOSPITALIZATIONS!
• Another year without a flare
• Dan weighed over 140 pounds for the first time in his life
• Barring any complications, no colonoscopies for 5 years
• Remicade is still working after two years
• We raised $6,000 for CCFA’s Take Steps Be Heard for Crohn’s & Colitis Walk and…
• Dan was the Connecticut Chapter’s Honored Hero this year
• I was named to the board of CCFA’s Connecticut Chapter

Dan speaking at the walk
Photo thanks to my wonderful friend Max Gigle

2012 IBD News Highlights (Note: These are not for all of 2012 but rather from June until now because that’s when the blog began)

• Massachusetts signed the Restroom Access Act into law, making it the 13th state to enact it
• Seattle, WA researchers studied bone marrow transplants as a cure for patients with severe Crohn’s
• A Massachusetts pharmaceutical company started a trial of pig whipworms as a Crohn’s treatment
• Jennifer Jaff, patient advocate and fellow Crohnie, passed away
• More than 200 genes were identified that are associated with Crohn’s Disease
• A study was published investigating intestinal transplants as treatment for severe Crohn’s Disease

2012 Blog Highlights

• First and foremost, and the biggest highlight for me, Caring for Crohn’s launched on June 19
• Interviewed former Olympian and fellow Crohnie Carrie Johnson
• Chatted with Ally Bain about the Restroom Access Act (aka Ally’s Law)
• Worked with fellow IBD bloggers to hold a PurpleChallenge for Crohn’s & Colitis Awareness Week
• Compiled a user-friendly list of IBD doctors in the US
• Wrote about being an IBD caretaker and Crohn’s & Colitis Awareness Week for the Huffington Post

My 5 Favorite Posts of the Year

Here are the posts that I enjoyed writing the most (excluding my interviews with Ally and Carrie because I mentioned them earlier):

• Affordable Care Act & Crohn’s  (Disclaimer: As a former Senate staffer who worked on the Affordable Care Act, this post might have been a teeny bit biased :-))
• Learning to live with vomit (somewhat)
• The healing power of pets
• All the posts for the ABC’s of Crohn’s & UC (yes this is cheating, but I couldn’t pick just one!)
  • A
  • B
  • C
  • D & E
  • F
  • G & H
  • I
  • J & K
  • L
  • M & N
• Debunking 10 IBD myths

Well, that’s it for 2012 folks.

It’s been a great year and I feel so lucky to have each of you in my life.

I wish you all a happy and healthy New Year filled with less pain, fewer hospitalizations/ER visits, and lots of laughs.

Thank you all again for your support!

Entry filed under: General. Tags: 2012, abcs, affordable care act, Ally Bain, Bone Marrow, Bone Marrow Transplant, Carrie Johnson, CCFA, CCFA Awareness Week, crohn's, crohn's disease, Crohn's Sucks, genetics, happy new year, ibd, inflammatory bowel disease, Intestinal Transplant, Pets, purplechallenge, remicade, restroom access act, Treatment, uc, ulcerative colitis, vomit, whipworms.