2013: Year in Review
December 31, 2013 at 11:24 am Rebecca K. Leave a comment
Happy New Year’s Eve everyone!
This past year has been an exciting one for Dan and I, both online and offline. In the past year, Caring for Crohn’s & UC expanded incredibly- while I wrote far fewer posts than last year, the blog received over 19,000 views and gained This year, Caring for Crohn’s & UC exploded beyond my wildest dreams, having over 19,000 views by over 10,000 visitors, and gained 45 WordPress followers, 9 Tumblr followers, 131 Facebook fans and 213 Twitter followers. (Disclaimer: I am a huge analytics nerd, so please forgive me for being so excited over these numbers :-)) Thank you all SO much for your continued readership and support- while I haven’t kept up with posting as frequently as I want to, I am so happy that the content I wrote over the past two years has reached so many of you. It’s all in the name of raising awareness and educating others about inflammatory bowel diseases.
Enough about the numbers- here are some of my 2013 highlights.
- Another 365 days without hospitalizations (knock on wood!)
- Another year without a flare (knock on wood!)
- We participated in Team Challenge Virginia Wine Country Half Marathon , raised over $7,500 for CCFA and made some wonderful new friends
- Dan weighed in at 143 pounds- the heaviest in his life
- Remicade is still working after three years
- I had the privilege of writing and co-authoring several posts for the Huffington Post:
- I met several incredible IBD activists and bloggers in person, including Marisa of Keeping Things Inside is Bad For My Health, Stephanie of The Stolen Colon, Frank of The Crohn’s Colitis Effect and Sara Ringer of Inflamed and Untamed.
- I started an amazing new job in New York City
- We moved back to New York after four and a half years in Connecticut
- Dan and I celebrated four years of being married and seven years of being together (although he maintains that we can’t celebrate this latter number anymore!)
- I was nominated for a WEGO Health Activist Award
My 5 Favorite Posts from 2013
Here are the posts that I enjoyed writing the most this year (yes, there are actually six posts listed, I couldn’t pick a favorite between two of them)
- Losing My Religion
- Anxiety is My Invisible Illness
- Clearing the Air About Crohn’s & UC / Talking About the Hard Stuff
- It’s New York’s Turn to Pass the Restroom Access Act
- COBRA: My love-hate relationship with insurance gap coverage
Guest Posts and Interviews
This year was also a great year for guest posts and interviews on my blog. Therefore, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention some of those as well:
- Caring for Crohn’s Interviews Oak Park Behavioral Medicine
- My Best Friend, A New Crohnie, Tells Her Story on Caring for Crohn’s
- Interview with Reid of Wanted: Crohn’s End
- Sarah Choueiry Talks About Her Journey With Crohn’s
- Guest Post: The Silent Battle Before an Ostomy
- Guest Post: Living with an Ostomy
I am not one to make resolutions but I do have a few things that I want to try and do in 2014:
- Write more frequently on the blog
- Figure out new ways to engage all of YOU on here
- Keep my apartment cleaner
- Raise $10,000 for CCFA through Team Challenge Jamestown Half Marathon (keep an eye out in the New Year for training and fundraising updates!)
All in all, 2013 has been an incredible year and I am so thankful to each one of you for helping it be so great. I hope you all have a happy and a healthy New Year with less pain, complications, hospitalizations and lots of love and laughter.
Entry filed under: Advocates, Caregiving, General, General Disease, IBD News, Interviews, Legislation, Medication, Mental Health, Team Challenge, Treatment. Tags: Anxiety, caregiving, caretaker, charity, Colitis, crohn's, crohn's disease, Depression, Fundraising, Happy New Year's, ibd, inflammatory bowel disease, New Year's, resolutions, Running, Team Challenge, uc, ulcerative colitis.
Caring for Crohn's & UC 
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