My Angry Ass Story: Number Two

2002 to 2003 -- After my 21 st birthday my body was literally going down the toilet. The picture above was taken in March 2002. Let's just say I wasn't looking my best. About two weeks after this picture was taken I started taking prednisone and never really stopped taking it for the next two years.

I tried to live a normal college student's life, ignoring that "normal college students" didn't have bi-monthly sigmoidoscopies, bi-yearly colonoscopies and a medicine cabinet full of legal drugs.

I stopped biking, just walking to class with a full book bag was to much of a work out for me. The pred did stop my bleeding, but it also made me retain water.

Eventually, I couldn't fit my clothes, but it didn't matter since I'd really stopped dressing myself-- tattered grey sweats were my daily uniform.

I stopped going out with my friends.

I couldn't sit through a 90 minute class without using the bathroom.

I argued with my parents about how I should be treated.

I argued with my doctor about how I should be treated.

I ignored both my parents and my doctors. My life as I knew had taken an nasty turn.

The next two years for me are fragmented. I can't accuratelytalk about them, because I don't remember them for the most part. I knew I wasn't myself and was making pigheaded ignorant choices about my health and life. The parts I do remember I wish I didn't.

Crystal clear me is the memory of me waking up from my last colonoscopy by my fourth doctor. I'd already blown through three doctors, including the Mayo Clinic. Point blank he told me,

"I won't treat you. You are beyond repair and you are either going to loose your colon to cancer, or you can make the choice to loose it now."

And that was it.

November 18, 2003- Total colectomy with ileo pouch