My Little Sister
Chelle is four years younger than I am, so she was only 4 years old when I became sick. Now both of us are in our 40’s and she has complained many times over the years that she does not really know everything that was wrong with me. Did my parents make a mistake by […]
One Hospital War Story
One of my hospital stays brings back a memory of myself, unable to eat of drink for weeks and weeks. The only thing I was able to do was sip two ounces of water every 4 hours. It was pathetic. I was reduced to begging for ice chips and watching the clock on the hour […]
Siblings of a Sick Child
I was the middle child. That already comes with baggage from what I have shared with other middle children through my life. I was kind of stuck in the middle, too young to tag along with my older brother and too old to do anything else with my baby sister but baby-sit her. When I […]
Dealing With Scars
There are two kinds of scars I can speak of. One is the scars on the outside, the surgical scars. I was lucky enough that even at my young age, my surgeons considered that I would be conscious of too man scars and for each surgical procedure cut a hairline away from the last scar. […]
Who do you Talk to about your Struggles?
Since I was so young when I first got sick, I really did not know who to speak to or how to deal with what was happening to me. My one escape to share with someone was to create an imaginary friend. I recall my imaginary friend being there for me when things were tough […]
The Diagnosis
Not knowing was the worst part for my parents and doctors but that did not last forever. One moment we are getting a final test, the next moment my parents world is turned upside down. Ulcertive Colitis was what was wrong. They could have just spoken a foreign language to my parents, since back in […]
What if they do not know what is wrong with you!
In the very beginning, age 7, my parents thought I was menistrating. The early doctors blamed our family life and family disfunctions as to why I was so ill. I did not care at this point who or what did it to me, I just wanted to be ok. Traveling from doctor to doctor is […]
How do you Deal with Feeling Different at School
I knew I was different, of course I had to, even at age 7. There I was perfectly normal, and the next thing I know I am unable to make it to the bathroom and having accidents in school. How humiliating! I was weak, frail, and took loads of pills every day. I missed school […]
5 Ways to Stay Sane in the Hospital
I have a few different theories for this since I spent so much time in the hospital at so many different ages I want to share them all with you. As a child….. To pass the time when I was not too ill to do anything, I would spend a lot of time playing and […]
How do you handle the pain?
I can only remember that I was always having terrible pains, but thank god as time goes on the memory is less and less vivid. What I can recall is that the pain was constant, and very very severe. As young as I was, it was something I still had to deal with. I would […]