Hello, it's me

[Kristi]

Yeah, Pentasa is pretty much useless to me. And the stupid Imuran jukes up my liver levels from time to time. The liver levels being too high kept me in the hospital an extra two days last time. I could've KILLED the doctor for not releasing me.

Ibuprofen irritates the lining on the GI tract which will make symptoms worse and can cause more inflammation, which defeats the whole purpose of it being an anti-inflammatory. (Geesh...go figure). It's bad to have to choose between your liver and your belly!

You know...I fought off having surgery the first time because I didn't want to get cut on, but I felt SOOOO much better after the surgery that it was so worth it in the long run. Surgery was tough, but I felt like a new person two weeks later. So when it got to the point a couple of years ago that I was in the hospital 14 times in 16 months I actually requested surgery to correct a blockage. I got tired of suffering and never regretted it. What I'm saying is this...don't have unnecessary surgery, but don't try TOO hard to avoid it, either. If his quality of life gets really crappy and the meds aren't helping then I highly recommend taking out the part that's causing the problem. I've been in remission since my last surgery over two years ago (it was two years at Thanksgiving last year) and it's WONDERFUL. The surgery gave me back my life. Beats the heck out of trying a thousand different medicine combos and dosage adjustments to avoid what will most likely make you feel like a new person. No one likes to go under the knife, but I will before I'll suffer for two years and THEN the docs decide to do surgery. That's two years I could've had back.

Keith looks pretty happy with the NG tube! I was miserable with it. He's a tough kid, kudos to him. Tell him that there's a great site ... healingwell.com...that's got a Crohn's Disease forum. Great info and peeps on that board. There's some kids his age on there, too, that he can talk to. You'd be surprised how many teenagers have Crohn's.

[RhondaR]

I react to all ASA's like that. Keith doesn't seem to, but hey, who knows... that could explain the muscle aches he gets between weeks 6 & 8.

Yeah, I mean liver inflammation, but this wasn't as a result of the drugs. It was from the Mono. The doc just decided to not make things possibly worse. We did the same thing when the doc said he had Hepatitis... FREAKED. How did he possibly get Hepatitis???!!! It's been a steep learning curve!

Keith goes to Oakland Children's Hospital... so I know what you mean about teaching hospitals. One man took one look at Keith at his worst and walked out... of the hospital. Couldn't even start his IV for him first. Always, always insist on the lab workers coming up and drawing themselves. *sigh* No practicing on us, TYVM.

[Yellow]

Wow Rhonda!! Youre allready a Birdboard supporter!! Love your signature!! And your too at the top as well!

[RhondaR]

Originally Posted by Yellow

Wow Rhonda!! Youre allready a Birdboard supporter!! Love your signature!! And your too at the top as well!

The way I see it, the bandwidth I'll use with pictures alone is going to give the admin.s a reason to raise the yearly supporter rate. The $18 rate is totally reasonable and quite low compared to other boards. As long as I'm a bandwidth hog, I'd better help out!

Thanks for the compliments! I tried to get the siggie pic as my avatar, but it wouldn't let me do animated avatars. I took that pic of Billy a few months ago, it's one of my favorites. He has the TOO in atti-TOO'd totally mastered!

[Doubleyolk]

Rhonda The $18.00 is for normal posters of pictures so I'm sure yours will double or triple.

[RhondaR]

Originally Posted by Doubleyolk

Rhonda The $18.00 is for normal posters of pictures so I'm sure yours will double or triple.

Hey Joe!

[fatma]

Hi, welcome to the board! your fids are so cute and your dogs also...