Sarah's Crohn's Blog - Missing the Giant Pumpkin

Sarah’s Crohn’s Blog is a series of journal entries related to Sarah’s battle with Crohn’s Disease. She was initially diagnosed with ulcerative colitis in 2010, but since then the diagnosis has changed to Crohn’s Disease. Anything referring to ulcerative colitis in these blogs was simply written before the diagnosis changed.

October 6, 2019

What a bittersweet day it has been. Bam Bam weighed in at 1,440 pounds, and I couldn't be happier. He got fifth place. I continue to be in the hospital (it has been 6 weeks to the day), and since I got sick in the beginning of August, Bam Bam has only gotten minimal care from Dale's end (which has been GREATLY appreciated!). I worked my butt off to get my plant healthy in June/July, and Bam Bam did his part while I was gone.

On Friday, I was transferred to Mass General Hospital in Boston because I tested positive again for C-diff, in addition to worsening symptoms of extreme fever, nausea, sweats, chills, extreme body aches, and no appetite. They have been great here, and I just had a flexible sigmoidoscopy today (where they stick a camera up my butt), and they gave me the great news that the ulcerative colitis has healed nearly completely. In addition, the repeat C-diff test was negative. They think my symptoms now are due to tapering off the steroids too rapidly in Bangor, and even after one dose of increased steroids last night, I am feeling much better. I still have several tests to do, more Remicade, and other odds and ends, but I think I'm finally going in the right direction. Two days ago, we all thought I would be getting surgery in the near future, and now things are looking much brighter than that.

I've been through an extensive amount of suffering and pain, and I'm sad I was not able to see my pumpkin today. I am beyond grateful for Dale who spent the past 2 days getting the pumpkins ready from both the community garden and our backyard. Also, Dean and Byron have been a huge part in helping Dale out, so thank you as well! The community garden pumpkins weighed in at 569 and 417 pounds. I'm not sure I will be back in time for the Damariscotta PumpkinFest (which is next weekend and I highly recommend going!), but I'm still excited to see pictures of how they look downtown once they all get decorated! I will post another health update when I am home and on the road to recovery. Thanks everyone for the continued support and positive thoughts!