Chapter 8: Old Crohn

It’s been a little over a week since meeting with my surgeon regarding my projected cancer treatment. I had my blood drawn for genetic testing 4 days ago. Once those results are in the hands of Mayo, I will be on deck to receive a phone call from Rochester regarding my upcoming Double Mastectomy. The waiting….I know to expect this, but it still wears my patients thin. Things are a bit more complicated than just the breast cancer limbo, though. I am also in the middle of some Crohn’s related bullshit that’s affecting my quality of life. I am experiencing consistent pain and bleeding in my posterior region. A lot of pain, the sort of pain that makes me double over, pain that Tylenol doesn’t touch. My general mood is affected. I find myself edgy and short tempered during conversations. Thankfully, my husband understands that it’s not him that aggravates me, it’s the physical pain I’m trying to power through. Lately I’ve been keeping to myself at work to spare my coworkers of my agitated state. I’m grateful that I’m only in-office 2 days per week, so I only need to fake it for 16 hours. The remainder of the week I work from home, so no one has to bear witness to my immediate misery. I made my Gastroenterologist aware of these developments a couple of weeks ago. He had all of my blood levels evaluated, and a sample of my shit put under a microscope…and everything checked out as normal. I am not satisfied with this determination, so I will be requesting a colonoscopy and pelvic MRI. I need to figure out what is causing these issues and get them resolved as soon as possible. This way I can focus on healing from my mastectomy without doubling over in gut pain and bleeding butthole. These days, living in my body is quite literally a pain in the ass.