As most of you know, this has been a difficult last few months for me (and Janelle) in regards to my health. Well, all that has come to a head and I will need to have surgery to get it taken care of.
Last week I was scheduled to have a procedure done to try and locate what has been bothering me. When I woke from the test, I was told that they wanted to keep me in the hospital to run a series of 5 more tests in hopes of pinpointing exactly what was wrong. I went through these tests and they found what they were looking for. It was discovered that I have a very diseased portion of small intestine and now my internal pouch has also been infected with active Crohn's disease. Medication is not working against the disease and my body has been spending so much effort in fighting it that it is not doing the things it should be (thus the weight loss, anemia, need for blood transfusions, etc.).
After many conversations with both my surgeon and my GI doctor, it was determined that the best course of action was to go in and have these diseased areas removed. With the pouch now gone, I will have to have a permanent external ilesotomy. This was something that Janelle and I really never wanted to have to deal with again and it has been the hardest thing to accept with this entire sequnce of events. We were not ready for this but again, after talking with the right people and getting affirmations that this was the best thing for me, we have slowly come to accept it.
So, it has all been scheduled. I will be going in for surgery next Wednesday, June 2nd at 12:30pm. We are having the procedure done at Shawnee Mission Medical Center, where we have become very comfortable. This is a great facility and I have the best surgeon in the region so we are confident that everything is going to turn out great...and that a disease-free life will be in the near future!
Janelle, Cailyn and I want to thank everyone for all of your thoughts and prayers through all of this. We have talked about how we are truly blessed to have such great family and friends. We appreciate all of your continued support (including friends and neighbors who have already lent many helping hands!) and we will do our best to keep everyone updated with what is going on.
Thank you again and we love you all!
Chris
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Chris,
ReplyDeleteI am thinking of you every day. And when I do , there is a massive positive energy that goes through me telling me you will be okay. Yes I do believe in praying but it is me who is there for you and your family. Please let me know if I can do anything for you.
Your friend,
David
My friend,
ReplyDeleteI dont know what to say in words. You have always been the strong one and I the emotional goofball. I wish I could do more than just write and pray. But the great thing about prayer is that He is always listening. You are an amazing man, a wonderful husband, and a great friend.
If there is anything (Janelle) I can do let me know. I know Chris wont ask.
Love you both,
Bunch