Ten Years Free - My Journey From A Diagnosis Of Crohn's Disease To Healing

May 14, 2010

At 4 am, I went into my parents' room.

"Mom, I don't feel good."
"What do you want us to do for you?"
"I don't know."

The next thing I knew, I was on the floor, staring at the ceiling.

To say my parents were concerned is an understatement. I had been lethargic and not eating much for a few days. Not feeling well, not eating, no energy. It was a cycle that made sense to us and we assumed I would get better soon.

After I fainted, I threw up. I had hardly eaten in days and (sorry if this is TMI) there appeared to be blood in my bowl. My dad gathered me up and took me to the car while my mom got my Oma to come over and stay with my brothers.

On the way to the car, not a long way, I passed out a couple more times. The whole thing was very surreal.

We drove to the ER and I was sitting in a wheelchair while the adults were doing paperwork. The nurses didn't realize how serious my condition was until I passed out IN THE WHEELCHAIR!

I remember them taking me into a room with a huge white machine. Some scan of some sort, but I have no clue what. Then I was taken into a room

 and they started a blood transfusion. I received three bags of blood, but it was one transfusion.

It's about 5 am at this point and I told my mom I wanted to call my friend Claire. She told me I needed to wait because it was too early.

I believe it was about this time that someone told us my hemoglobin was very low. What we did not find out until later was that if it had been much lower, I would have died.

Eventually, I was put into an ambulance and taken to a hospital. I don't remember where exactly I was, but Claire and her mom did come to see me. They were so grave and concerned and I kept trying to reassure them. I didn't really get why they were so upset but my mom said if I had seen what I looked like, I would have understood.

We had to stay the night but by dinner the next day, I was back at home. From start to finish, I was in the ER/hospital for less than 48 hours but it seems like WAY longer. It's amazing how much happened in that time. On Saturday, my friend Molly came to visit. I was feeling much better at this point (having enough blood will do that to a person :) and she lifted my spirits. By the time she came, I was so over being in the hospital.

When I left the hospital, we knew I had ulcers but we didn't know why. I had several scopes as they tried to figure out the cause. They ruled out bacteria and ultimately settled on Crohn's Disease. I would have been on medication for the rest of my life. My mom decided to take me to see a natural doctor who had helped a friend of ours several years before.

Goofing off while waiting out a gust of wind :)

This doctor discovered that I actually DID have bacteria - a kind of parasite called helicobacter pylori. Apparently in the medical field, you have to have a certain level of bacteria for them to diagnose that as the cause. My level was not high enough for them to notice or think that was the reason, but there was enough to cause serious problems for me.

He gave me some supplements to take for a time and after I was done with them, I was HEALED! No more ulcers, no more parasites!!!

VICTORY!!!!

We went back in for a final scope and the doctors were stunned to find that my ulcers were gone. They wanted to keep doing scopes to check on me but we knew that I was fine and we never went back.

We've kept seeing this natural doctor for 10 years. He's helped us in so many ways, with so many things over the years. God is good. He used the combination of modern and ancient medicine to heal me and has continued to use natural medicine to help my whole family! In a crazy coincidence, my cousin was born the next year with the same parasite and Dr. Perkins found it (after my poor cousin went through all the doctors first) and helped her get better too.

As I got further away from 2010, I became more and more confident that I was indeed fine. I've been looking forward to celebrating this anniversary for a few years now and believe me, I'm celebrating!!!!