Let's go back to the beginning...

I am writing this blog in hopes that it will help other people who are in or who have had similar situations realize that they are not alone. I thought I was but not anymore. This will probably be a very detailed story of what I went through but I think it'll help my recovery process. It's reality and I need to accept it and hope the rest of you will too.

It all started at age 22 during my junior year of undergraduate school. I was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis, a form of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) where the body pretty much attacks the colon. Symptoms are very painful, including bloody stool and extreme lower abdomen pain. I was put on many different medications including prednisone to help the symptoms. Prednisone made my cheeks puffy (where I got the nickname cheeks lol) and my stomach puffy and just isn't a good drug to be on in general. My mom has UC so she knew what was going on and what I was going through, unfortunately. She hasn't had a flare up in over ten years, thank God. The colitis hit me hard and never eased up.

It started to get a lot worse around Christmas time of this past year (2010) and I started losing more blood and became pale and weak and just overall crappy feeling. Attending a work staff meeting, I was in the bathroom during the two hours more than I was in the meeting. I was so weak and in so much stomach pain, it was pretty unbearable. After the meeting, all my co-workers kept telling me to go to the hospital because I didn't look good at all. I kinda brushed it off and figured I'd be okay. Truth was, I was scared as hell to go to the hospital because I'd never been and didn't know what was going to happen. The drive home was HORRIBLE. I honestly don't know how I made it the 25 minute drive to my house. I was crying the entire way. As soon as I walked in the house, I told my parents who were sitting in the kitchen that I needed to go to the hospital NOW. They looked terrified and called my GI doctor and asked them what to do. They said to go to the ER, that they'd call and let the hospital know I was on my way...