Still Here -- Both Me and The Strictures

Sometimes the constancy, the unpredictability, and permanence of Crohn’s Disease weighs heavily on me and I try to ignore it for a while. I want, somehow, for the story to have a happy – even miraculous ending instead of plodding on and on in drab, irritating tedium.

Anyway, that’s my excuse for not keeping my Crohn’s blog up to date of late.

But my delay revealed that at least one reader wants to know what happens next. Thank you, Juliette, for encouraging me to continue.

In a nutshell, two weeks after January's double-balloon enteroscopy, the endoscopy capsule was still stuck, so it was time to try again to retrieve it.

In February, Dr. Radwin went back in via an antegrade (through the mouth, down the throat) approach with the double-balloon enteroscopy and retrieved the capsule that was stuck. He didn’t try to dilate any of the other strictures he saw, since last time that resulted in the capsule staying in place.

The doctor recommended that I return in April so he can dilate the strictures.

Since then, I’ve had the pleasure of paying for the first two procedures. Not cheap, of course. And I continue to envy other people's fresh, crisp salads and gooey cookies while I live on scrambled eggs, yogurt, pasta and other squishy, impossible-to-get-stuck foods. Oh, and frozen yogurt, of course.

I haven’t returned for more small-bowel-stricture dilation. I’ve just been dealing with symptoms while trying to live as normally as one can when the highest priority is often noticing where the nearest rest room is. I have an appointment to repeat the procedure in a couple of weeks. But I’m going to cancel because I have an important conference to attend for my home-health consulting business.

As to whether dilation is really helpful, I can’t say whether it will be for me or not. Different people respond differently.

It is, though, only a temporary fix. The strictures come back. But if being dilated provided symptom relief for weeks or months at a time, and I had the procedure a couple of times a year, I would consider that to be far superior to having surgery to remove the diseased section of small bowel.

Hmmmm. What would you do?

Thanks for reading my blog. I hope it helps someone feel less alone with life’s challenges. We’re all just doing the best with what we’ve got. Right?

Take care,

Beth