Every story has a beginning, this is mine.

"No matter who you are, there will be times when your old normal isn't normal anymore. You will lose normal and that's what Chronic Disease is. It's a new normal."

― Hank Green

Unlike the characters in my books my life didn't change over night. It was a gradual change but it was just as jarring as Harry Potter learning he was a wizard or Bilbo turning invisible at his 111 birthday party or Dustfinger appearing at Meggie's window in the dead of night. My life changed during my senior year in high school, when I began having these terrible pains in my abdomen. 

Sort of funny really, your senior year is supposed to be the year. It's the year you never forget, the year you make all of your memories. It started out great. I enjoyed my classes, my friends, I even had a bit of romance for a while too, but it was short lived. Around late October, early November, I started experiencing awful pains in my stomach, like my intestines were being pulled, twisted, and chewed. At first I thought it was just stress. I tend to over think things and stress out about nothing, I assumed these pains where just the effects of the rising number of assignments in my AP classes and an upcoming theater competition. After about a month of ignoring and gritting my teeth the pain just became too much to bare. I had stopped eating and dropped about 15 pounds over a two month period. I started skipping school regularly. When I did manage to make it however I would come home utterly exhausted looking like a ghost.

Finally, around mid-December it just became too much to ignore and I stopped going to school all together. The pain was so bad that I couldn't hold down any of my food, and so my mother took me to the ER. The doctors drew blood and did a CT scan where they found two kidney stones, one in my kidney and one in my bladder and evidence of a third stone that I had already passed, and though they didn't say anything at the time they had also found evidence of swelling 'consistent with Crohn's disease' in my colon. I read that part in the written report they gave me afterwards.

Now, I had no idea what Crohn's disease was so I googled it. Worst mistake of my life. I scared the crap out of myself, but maybe it was a good thing that I did. Apparently I was the only one who had read the report because I had to mention Crohn's to my primary care doctor when I went to get a follow up. Everything I was experiencing was consistent with the symptoms of this obscure auto-immune disease that no one had ever heard of. It explained the pain, the severe anemia and malnourishment, the fatigue, the weight loss, and the swelling in my ankles. I couldn't get any treatment though, not until they could confirm that it was Crohn's through a colonoscopy and couldn't get one of those until my insurance was renewed in February. My doctor just gave me some medicine for the nausea and codeine for the pain.   

I was admitted into the hospital on February 6. I weighed 99 pounds and my hemoglobin was at a level 7. After an endoscopy and colonoscopy I was officially diagnosed with Crohn's disease on the 7th. They put me on a Low Residue, Low Fiber, High Protein diet and gave me steroids and Asacol to help with the inflammation and swelling. They gave me an antibiotic because I had contracted a bacteria in my stools as well as iron for my anemia.

Now, I'm at home recovering and learning everything I can about my particular brand of Crohns. I'm on top of all my medications and keeping track of my food intake and just taking care of my body so I can finish my senior year next fall. 

I'm starting this blog to help, not only myself deal with my new normal, but provide information and first hand experience for anyone else like me who has just been blindsided by this disease. This is my story. Enjoy.

Keep Calm and Fight On,

Anna 

♥

"I can be changed by what happens to me. but I refuse to be reduced by it.” 

― Maya Angelou