C.Diff...SAY WHAT?
Each setback I face always yields more clarity and perspective. I am learning and growing as a person each and every day. I was just diagnosed with C.Diff - which is a bacterial infection in your colon. It feels as glorious as it sounds...NOT! C.Diff can occur after prolonged antibiotic use or it can be contracted from someone who has it. Kind of ironic that I was on anti-tubercular antibiotics for 9 months and never got C.Diff. Also ironic that I most definitely caught it from a clinic appointment at the hospital... THE SAME PLACE THAT I LIKELY CAUGHT TUBERCULOSIS. God the irony kills me! But anyway, such a horrible infection with unrelenting symptoms showed me the true importance of advocating for your health ALWAYS.
My GI issues are a large part of my POTS and my daily life - but about 3 weeks ago I started to feel really sick with new symptoms. Right away these symptoms didn’t sit well with me - this was NOT my normal. I had just finished a round of follow-up appointments with my team where we had all rejoiced in the stability and improvement of my health, so I was hesitant to call my GI doctor and tell him about my horrible new symptoms. I waited a week or so while I tried to adjust everything I could think of that could be causing this flare-up… I stopped all vitamins and supplements I was taking, I stopped drinking kombucha, I went back to a simple bland diet, but to NO avail my symptoms were still persisting. After 2 weeks of symptoms and feeling defeated and upset at myself for something I did not cause I went to see Dr. P, my pediatrician. This appointment too came as a stark contrast to my previous appointment where we were smiling, giggling, and hugging. We ran labs that came back normal, but I was still struggling with VERY real symptoms. Dr. P as always was not phased by my negative labs and did not give up on me. When she called me a week later with the results we both confided in each other that these negative labs made us frustrated and confused. I hung up with her feeling defeated and continued my ride home with tears welling in my eyes. The situation of negative labs with debilitating symptoms is something that many invisible illness warriors like myself often face. I had been in this predicament before with my POTS, and it is hard for me to forget the 13 months of eternal hell that occurred when my labs keep coming back normal. In situations like this I want to shout from the roof top, "MY LABS MAY BE NORMAL, BUT I AM NOT!", but instead I settle for daily affirmations to myself to be strong and confident in my body. I have learned that these affirmations have saved my life and that deep down I always know what is best.
I then called my GI doctor and told him what had been going on since I saw him and he ordered more tests. Yay for poop tests...NOT! After endless hours of laughing between my dad and I the poop was sent the lab. In the Shapiro family there is never a poop joke that can be left unsaid. Seriously.
My GI doctor told me it was likely just a bad flare-up, but that he just wanted to run some tests anyway. Even in him telling me it was likely nothing but a bad flare, he never once made me feel at fault or a burden. My initial feeling when in a flare-up is that I can and should handle it on my own, so when I'm sick and it turns out to be a flare I feel bad that we had to go running tests. BUT, sometimes it is not a flare! To my fellow chronic illness warriors, never hide symptoms that you get a bad feeling about. My so called 'normal flare' could have killed me because it was ANYTHING BUT a normal flare.
He called me two days later to say that I tested positive for C.Diff. I remember laughing at him on the phone until I realized he was serious. He told me he sent the antibiotics to my pharmacy and that he’d check in with me in two weeks. We are hoping that 2 weeks of oral antibiotics will do the trick for my moderate case, but if not then stronger and possible IV antibiotics will come next. I hung up and burst into tears. Being blindsided by a diagnosis no matter how big or small is a crazy emotion that always rubs you raw. I immediately emailed Dr. P the update that she had been anxious to receive.
I like to call Dr. P my medical best friend - she’s the one that you immediately think of when you get any news. Medical news, college news, major life news, I ALWAYS think of Dr. P. She has not only become a part of my care team, but a true part of my family. After sharing my C. Diff news, Dr. P tells me how proud she is of me and how I always advocate for my health and stand up for myself when I know something is wrong with my body. I don’t know what I did to deserve her, but she is the ONE person that can make living with chronic health conditions easier.
Anyone that knows my medical story can attest to how resilient I am and how I have become a superhero advocate for myself. This is just another instance of a time where being my own advocate saved my life. I like to joke and say that I don't need any more setbacks that teach me new lessons, but in this instance I will always be thankful for C.Diff and how it nudged me to be more conscious of my role as a patient.
BE. YOUR. OWN. ADVOCATE. ALWAYS.
My GI issues are a large part of my POTS and my daily life - but about 3 weeks ago I started to feel really sick with new symptoms. Right away these symptoms didn’t sit well with me - this was NOT my normal. I had just finished a round of follow-up appointments with my team where we had all rejoiced in the stability and improvement of my health, so I was hesitant to call my GI doctor and tell him about my horrible new symptoms. I waited a week or so while I tried to adjust everything I could think of that could be causing this flare-up… I stopped all vitamins and supplements I was taking, I stopped drinking kombucha, I went back to a simple bland diet, but to NO avail my symptoms were still persisting. After 2 weeks of symptoms and feeling defeated and upset at myself for something I did not cause I went to see Dr. P, my pediatrician. This appointment too came as a stark contrast to my previous appointment where we were smiling, giggling, and hugging. We ran labs that came back normal, but I was still struggling with VERY real symptoms. Dr. P as always was not phased by my negative labs and did not give up on me. When she called me a week later with the results we both confided in each other that these negative labs made us frustrated and confused. I hung up with her feeling defeated and continued my ride home with tears welling in my eyes. The situation of negative labs with debilitating symptoms is something that many invisible illness warriors like myself often face. I had been in this predicament before with my POTS, and it is hard for me to forget the 13 months of eternal hell that occurred when my labs keep coming back normal. In situations like this I want to shout from the roof top, "MY LABS MAY BE NORMAL, BUT I AM NOT!", but instead I settle for daily affirmations to myself to be strong and confident in my body. I have learned that these affirmations have saved my life and that deep down I always know what is best.
I then called my GI doctor and told him what had been going on since I saw him and he ordered more tests. Yay for poop tests...NOT! After endless hours of laughing between my dad and I the poop was sent the lab. In the Shapiro family there is never a poop joke that can be left unsaid. Seriously.
My GI doctor told me it was likely just a bad flare-up, but that he just wanted to run some tests anyway. Even in him telling me it was likely nothing but a bad flare, he never once made me feel at fault or a burden. My initial feeling when in a flare-up is that I can and should handle it on my own, so when I'm sick and it turns out to be a flare I feel bad that we had to go running tests. BUT, sometimes it is not a flare! To my fellow chronic illness warriors, never hide symptoms that you get a bad feeling about. My so called 'normal flare' could have killed me because it was ANYTHING BUT a normal flare.
He called me two days later to say that I tested positive for C.Diff. I remember laughing at him on the phone until I realized he was serious. He told me he sent the antibiotics to my pharmacy and that he’d check in with me in two weeks. We are hoping that 2 weeks of oral antibiotics will do the trick for my moderate case, but if not then stronger and possible IV antibiotics will come next. I hung up and burst into tears. Being blindsided by a diagnosis no matter how big or small is a crazy emotion that always rubs you raw. I immediately emailed Dr. P the update that she had been anxious to receive.
I like to call Dr. P my medical best friend - she’s the one that you immediately think of when you get any news. Medical news, college news, major life news, I ALWAYS think of Dr. P. She has not only become a part of my care team, but a true part of my family. After sharing my C. Diff news, Dr. P tells me how proud she is of me and how I always advocate for my health and stand up for myself when I know something is wrong with my body. I don’t know what I did to deserve her, but she is the ONE person that can make living with chronic health conditions easier.
Anyone that knows my medical story can attest to how resilient I am and how I have become a superhero advocate for myself. This is just another instance of a time where being my own advocate saved my life. I like to joke and say that I don't need any more setbacks that teach me new lessons, but in this instance I will always be thankful for C.Diff and how it nudged me to be more conscious of my role as a patient.
BE. YOUR. OWN. ADVOCATE. ALWAYS.
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