Hi Everyone!  I am Crystal a 29 year old survivor of Crohns disease.  I was diagnosed with Crohns in 1989 when I was 9 years old.  I was sick for so long before the diagnoses.  Doctors though I had worms, infection, and cancer.  As soon as I was diagnosed I was started on diffrent medications prednisone, sulfa, dont remember all the drugs.  I really never got any better.  I was still so young and not getting any better.  I remember when I was in 6th grade I got very sick and was put in a wonderful hospital.  They put feeding tubes in and IVs.  I was sick but though cool Im not in school.  One night in the hospital I really thought I would die.  I remember crying all night with my mom holding my head.  Horrible for a child to go through this stuff.   I liked that perk if you can call it that.  Crazy.  I got better got out of the hospital and was on the road to recovery. 

I was doing pretty good until 2005.  I had just stared dating this great guy and here I was sick again.  After no medication worked they did surgery and cut out about 12 inches of my small intestine.  Surgery is never fun!!  I never go completely well.  I went on prednisone, remicade, all the great crohns drugs.  Well the remicade did not work because I was getting the infusion and I couldnt breath.  After that no more infusions.  I kept getting MRSA infections one after the other and I was never getting well.  In addition to all this I almost died having 3 blood clots in my lungs at one time.  The doctor said if the clot had been any closer to a valve it would have killed me on the spot. 

Things got worse on Jan. 1, 2009.  I went in the hospital and things just escalated as the year went on.  My large intesine was in such bad shape I kept hemorrhaging and and from Feb-May 2009 I had 8 blood transfusions and 8 units of plasma.  So in May I with the doctors encouragement I went on to schedule a permanent ileostomy.

I had my ileostomy done June 24, 2009 a day Ill never forget.  I now have a stoma and perisomal pyroderma gangrenousm around the stoma.  Which is huge open wounds around the stoma.  I am now not able to work.  I hope I can go back one day I work with the developmentally disabled.  I miss working.  But Im glad to be alive.  Sorry my story was a little long and I hope it is understandable.  Thanks for letting me tell my story and vent a little.

Things are only as bad as you let them be!!