post-procedure update

the doc and i decided to do a flexible sigmoidoscopy after looking at my flare track record this year. 3 flares in a year is a lot for me, and she figured we needed to sneak a peek to see where i stood disease-progression wise.

Monday morning I had the pleasure of getting up bright and early (5AM) to do a colon prep for my flexible sigmoidoscopy procedure. i'll spare you the details of the colon prep (you're welcome.) needless to say, not fun for me, not fun for poor CTO in the next room!

i opted for no sedation during the procedure, which was... an interesting move on my part. i guess after having a 36 hour natural labor, i was a little over-confident in my pain tolerance capabilities. this was my mood in pre-op:

i'm not sure why i was certain it would be fine, because every other scope i've had done i've been sedated for. AND i was in the middle of a flare, which makes things more uncomfortable anyways. so. i chose no sedation. BOYHOWDY that was uncomfortable/awkward/alien-baby birthing weird. and the doctor kept trying to talk to me about Texas BBQ. i tried to talk back, but it's hard to remember the name of that badass brisket place in Lockhart when you feel like this:

                                                                  from youtube.com

next time, i'm asking, no BEGGING,  for the Versed and Fentanyl. #facepalm.

all in all, the doc said things didn't look great, but they didn't look terrible. my UC has progressed further up my colon (BOO) but it isn't classifiable as severe UC yet (yay? it was mild before.) we decided to up my meds to the immunosuppressive class 6-MP. it's usually used as a chemotherapeutic agent for people with certain cancers like leukemia, but is is also used in much lower doses to treat UC and Crohn's disease. it can cause a whole host of gnarly side effects (lowered white count, bone marrow suppression, increased risk of all kinds of illness, liver failure, lymphoma, pancreatitis....)

i'll be going in weekly for a month for bloodwork, then twice a month for a month, then once a month for three months, then once every three months for forever to monitor my white count and liver enzymes.

hopefully i'll be able to wrangle the baby, get my blood work done, get back in shape, get my guts better, AND train for the IM all at the same time. oh and did i mention i'm looking for a nursing job now too??

it's a tall order, but that's how i roll. i worked full time as an RN, went to grad school full time, and taught part time ALL AT THE SAME TIME, in addition to marathon and 70.3 training. i. can. do. this.

oh. i also turned 31 on Saturday. that was fun :)

**disclaimer: i am not a doctor, and i am not giving out medical advice. i am merely documenting what i am going through, and providing bits of information about it here and there. if you have UC or questions about it, please contact your doctor. (you can email me too, but just for chit-chat. i will not give you medical advice!)**