Posted 8/23/2007 10:08 PM (GMT -8)
So, for all of you who have been following along and giving me advice along the way.. I thought I'd let you know how my doctor's appointment went today. My parents went with me and we spent about an hour and a half talking with my doctor. Because of the ulcers being in the right colon and the active colitis or whatever there, he wants to be absolutely sure what he's dealing with before putting me on Humira or Remicade. He said the inflammation he saw during the first colonoscopy is almost gone, but there's the new stuff he saw this past Friday that worried him. Especially since I've been having these abdominal pains (the sharp jabbing ones). The Pred he put me on hadn't helped and so he decided that I should stop taking it. Probably a good thing since I can't sleep on it really and I've been bruising like crazy.
The biggest decision I made was to go ahead and do the capsule endoscopy even though the past two patency capsules didn't go through. My doc wants to make sure he knows exactly what I have going on.. especially since he can't see it. He told me how he had a previous patient that had nothing show up on CT enterogaphy's (like me) and yet when he did the capsule there were the strictures. So that's what we're going to go ahead and try and find out. To see what exactly is going on there. My hope is that by some miracle the capsule passes. But I am fully prepared that it might not, and that I might have to have surgery. I know that this would probably mean I would have to withdraw this semester/year from law school. But I really am in so much pain and it's affecting the way I live my life and study and everything. So one more year before really starting law school won't be the end of the world. I just need to get better.
The good news is that I got approved this morning by the disability resource center on campus. They have said it's ok for my profs to know why I'm leaving (so they don't comment on it) and have given me extra time on exams if necessary (since I might be in the bathroom). So now that has to get approved by the law school as well. I have an appointment for next Monday, so I figure I'll tell the lady who I need to speak with about these other possible scenarios. I should be getting the capsule endoscopy scheduled for next Friday. I'll have to miss class.. no way I could explain that to the other students without really telling them. So I'm going to ask my prof tomorrow about that and just let him know.
I feel like I'm making the right decision in this. I hope so. Any words from people who have gone through this before would be greatly appreciated. I'm a bit nervous, but am just glad I'm on a track towards getting some closure.