As I mentioned in the prior post, the first half of 2014 was glorious.  I felt years younger, was working out or doing some sort of physical activity 5-6 times a week, my sex life was in full swing and I was voluntarily taking on new responsibilites at work and school with an ease I had never seen before.  Life was great!

And then, July arrived.  Here in Central Texas the mercury dances closely on either side of the 100 degree line in July, and I had continued to take on more projects at work and home.  I took on studies to obtain professional licenses all in a matter of a few months apart from one another (three exams total for each certification).  Additionally, the wife and I took on DIY remodels of our bathrooms and kitchen.  In hindsight, I probably shouldn’t have taken so much on all at once, but I felt like I had endless amounts of energy (Remember?!).  Some believe stress could be a contributor to triggering a flare-up; however, I am a firm believer that stress is a much larger trigger-event than some may believe.  The bleeding returned, but the pain was minimal.  The energy, though, was the thing I hated to see go the most.

By mid-September 2014, I had reached out to my physician to let him know of my struggles. He prescribed a two-week pack of a Mesalamine Rectal Suspension Enema called Canasa.  Basically, its a liquid that comes in a “single serve” bottle.  It has a pointed end that you insert into your rectum and then slowly (slowly!) squeeze its contents into your body.  Additionally, he prescribed 40mgs of Prednizone with  a rapid taper-off plan.  The Prednizone righted the ship in about three days, and I was a happy camper again.  For a while at least.

My annual sigmoidoscopy came up the following week.  As usual, the Flexible Sigmoidoscopy or “siggy” included a few biopsies to ensure due diligence was performed and cancer was being prevented.  These biopsies obviously caused bleeding right off the bat; however, this particular time the bleeding did not subside.  It continued for a week.  Who knows if the poking and cutting during the procedure did it, but I envisioned my colon saying something along the lines, “We just got on good terms, and now you come in here tryin’ to shank me? Ya gonna get dropped now, playboy!”  My colon is from the streetz!

While the bleeding and bathroom trips increased, my energy level decreased.  This was a flare up that looked and felt worse than “The Great Flare-Up of 2013“.  The Prednisone, Canasa and Lialda didn’t phase this flare-up at all.  My health continued to decline, and the doctor admitted me to the hospital October 15th.  I wasn’t too happy about it, but I felt so much better about this one when compared to my first hospitalization in 2013.  I was certain we’d knock this thing out pronto-quicko!

Sure enough, after a week of being laid up in a hospital bed with IV steroids and pain killers pumping throughout my body, I felt I had turned the corner toward the better and we were on our way back home.  I took an additional two days off from work (Thursday and Friday), plus the weekend and planned on returning to work Monday October 27th.

Unfortunately, my colon had other plans. By Saturday evening I was in severe pain, had gone to the toilet 21 times and had an amount of bleeding I hadn’t seen since 2013.  My body was telling me it needed IV steroids in order to be healthy.  I left a message with my doctor, went to work Monday morning, gave a presentation to staff members and then received a call back from the doctor’s office. They had received the message I left stating the symptoms I was experiencing, and they called to advise me to get to my newly-reserved hospital room.  By Monday afternoon I was in a new hospital bed visiting with my doctor [again] about the various avenues of treatment I could pursue.  One of the options he threw out there [again], had been discussed before back in late 2013.  A Total Proctocolectomy.