Posts tagged ‘ibd’
Turning lemons into lemonade
I grew up turning everything into a joke.
For example, when my mom was diagnosed with cancer in 2006 and lost her hair, we bought her a Du-rag and tried to get her to wear a Bob Ross Afro wig.
It’s no surprise then that Dan and I try to take on Crohn’s with a light heart and lots of jokes. It’s definitely hard at times to find the humor in our situation when there is so much bad (hospitals, medication, medical bills, etc.) but we do our best.
The three times Dan has been hospitalized, I have taken photos to chronicle the experiences. While it might seem a bit strange, it helps us to keep our moods up. We also make a lot of puns related to poop and the other things that go hand in hand with Crohn’s Disease and Ulcerative Colitis.
For the last three years, we’ve participated in CCFA’s Take Steps Be Heard walk and because of our jokes, it’s only appropriate that our team name is Shits & Giggles. This past year Dan was the honored hero at our walk AND we were the first place fundraiser on the day of the walk!
If I could give one piece of advice to all those either suffering from or taking care of someone with Crohn’s and Colitis, keep your spirits up and try to laugh. It’ll help make the bad times be a little brighter.
What do you do to make Crohn’s not hurt so much?
Worrywart
I might be crazy but every time Dan says he has a stomach ache (which is pretty frequently), I am reminded of the dreadful night last year when he woke me at 2A.M. to go to the emergency room. That night we found out he had a blockage. Now, every time he has pain in the same area, I worry it’s another one.
I know the fear is irrational since he had surgery last year to remove the narrowing that caused the blockage (will go into that in a later post) and he has a wide open passage. But it still scares me.
Anyone else out there worry like that?
Caring for Crohn's & UC 