for what it's worth

Oops, looks like I've forgotten to blog for a while... Well, have no fear, I'm about to blog my pants off! I just got back from a trip to Detroit, Michigan where I had the privilege of hanging out with some pretty gutsy girls, literally. This was a retreat for GirlsWithGuts.org, a non profit advocacy group created to unite people of all walks of life who share a common thread: Inflammatory Bowel Disease. Many of us suffer from Chron's, Ulcerative Colitis and other digestive disorders and diseases. Many of us live with Colostomies, Ileostomies, Urostomies, and J-Pouches because of chronic illness. We have spouses, significant others, children, parents, family and friends who walk with us daily on this journey. We are employers and employees, business owners, athletes, community leaders and members, parents, grandparents, and friends. We are people like you who just happen to live with chronic illness too and we are part of a group focused on bringing awareness to IBD ...

#HAWMC Day 2 Day 2 of the 30 day challenge is about the disease I struggled with. In 2004 I was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis an auto immune disease that causes ulcers to form on the colon and large intestine. It's mean, it's nasty and it's extremely painful. These little ulcers can cause quite a bit of damage and have lots of very cruel side effects. For instance: explosive diarrhea or constipation, severe abdominal cramps, bleeding (sometimes more blood than poop), internal inflammation of the intestines, joint pain (sometimes debilitating!), skin problems, eye problems, loss of hair, mouth ulcers, hmmmmm...what else? Oh, fatigue, insomnia, loss of appetite, weight loss or gain, nausea, depression... And that's NOT including side effects from the medications and treatments prescribed to help control the disease. So after 7 years of various treatments: Asacol, Azathioprine, Corticol enemas, massive doses of Prednisone, and finally Remicade, my body stopped respo...