Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Good News?!

It's hard to figure out if this is awesome news or hard fact I'm about to describe, but either way, big developments have been made regarding my health since my last post.

Two weeks ago, I went under the knife and had surgery for my ongoing GI problems. At the end of the day, I had 16" of my colon removed, along with my appendix and a short section of my small intestine. The surgery went as planned, albeit, my belly had to be cut open slightly more than planned due to there being more colonic inflammation  than expected.

The following two days were absolute hell, and I was on an "ice-chip" diet during this period. In all, I went without food for almost 4 days. The pain & discomfort during this time were horrible, and the pain medications that were being injected into me were, without a doubt, the worst part. I was nauseous, dizzy, my eyes were crossing, I was choking on an inflamed uvula, and I couldn't speak due to the severity of my dry mouth. Not at my best form...

However, after a rough Monday and Tuesday, I was seeing the light at the end of the tunnel by Wednesday. I got out of bed, spent about 30 minutes walking around, and no longer needed pain meds to tolerate the discomfort (thank god...).

We still had no idea what was causing all my problems, but we knew that the damaged section of my colon was gone...

Fast forward 11 days, and I finally receive the news I've been so desperately seeking since January: Conclusively, pathology shows I have a sever case of Crohn's disease. Done! Do I care that this is a serious chronic disease?? Nope! I have the contentment of knowing what has made my entire 2013 unbearable, and can now start treatment, and the slowing of my demise. While struggles still remain, I haven't been this happy in months!

Fast forward: I went for a 3 mile hill run in the Garden of the Gods yesterday... 13 days after surgery. My docs might not be stoked to hear this, but it was necessary for my mental and physical progression. It proved to me that I'm on the road to recovery. Enough said.

Obviously, I'm looking forward to future decisions regarding what my ongoing treatment will be, but an accurate diagnosis is the start. No need to shed tears over water under the bridge... here's to 2014! I might suck at my old sport of choice, but here's to a comeback.

Brooks

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Didn't you already suck at that activity? My belly scars are much worse than yours.

Jeremy said...

Glad to hear your on the mend!

MtUnpaved said...

Good luck going forward. Must be a huge relief to know what the hell is/was going on.

Lucas said...

Glad to hear! We'll see you on the trails next year for sure

Anonymous said...

Glad to hear!

Won't be long and we'll be seeing you in the fetal position on the boat ramp.

MJ said...

Happy for you knowing what's been going on which is the first step in getting better (tho what a path you've been on). So excited you were able to run again!

Hoping this is the start of many more good things for you, wishing you the best.

Erik said...

Hey Brooks, I'm happy to hear that you found what was going on and that you're on the mend. Congrats on the run, too!!

BLOS said...

You're looking healthy again these days. 2014 should be a good year.