I suppose whoever comes on here will be wondering about the title: "Cheetos and Freedom"? What does that have to do with anything?
Well, I'll tell you.
It had been five weeks since I'd last eaten when I got my first surgery. No clear liquids, barely any water, nothing. I was on pure TPN (total parenteral nutrition - via a PICC line), so I was ecstatic a few days after the first surgery when my surgeon told me I could start eating solid foods. For two weeks, I'd have to take it slow and stick to a low-residue diet...but slowly, I'd be back to eating nearly everything - which I hadn't been able to do in four years!
I couldn't wait, so I began to create a "Food List" of everything I wanted to eat once I was allowed. One thing on that list? Puffy Cheetos. Not regular, crunchy Cheetos. Oh, no. The big, spiral, melt-in-your-mouth Puffy Cheetos.
I woke up craving them the I day I was released from the hospital, and couldn't wait to get home and eat an entire bag of Puffy Cheetos. Lucky for me, I have an amazing mother, who surprised me with my very own bag of Cheetos when I got in the car to finally go home.
I couldn't stop shaking, I was so excited. To be going home, to be healthy, to eat those damn artificially flavored cheese puffs. I was giggling when I opened the bag and began to devour them, at which point my mom asked,
"So, what do they taste like?"
And I just laughed, turned to her, and replied,
"Freedom!"
I rolled down the window, let out a triumphant, "WHOOHOO!" and the rest is history.
So, there you have it. Cheetos and Freedom. Both of which, I must say, are delicious.
Thursday, August 30, 2012
Saturday, August 25, 2012
Hello!
Hi, there!
I suppose that, since this is my first post, I should give a little backstory.
Right! Let's get to it, then, shall we?
My name is Jamie Greenhut. Currently 18 years of age, currently studying at Savannah College of Art and Design in beautiful Savannah, Georgia. Also currently, a survivor of a lovely little disease called Ulcerative Colitis. Believe me, not nearly as glamorous as it sounds. Its sister disease, Crohn's? Yeah, it isn't that much of a charmer, either.
I was diagnosed with UC around the age of 13-14, after many years of symptoms and stomachaches and plenty of day of school missed. For the most part, at that time, my disease was mild and I only had to make a few minor adjustments to my lifestyle. A few different kinds of medication here, some diet changes there, and I was living quite comfortably with UC for a good year or so. Unfortunately, things began to go downhill over the next few years. More medication, more diet changes until my life slowly turned into 12 pills in the morning, 12 at night, and hardly anything but plain chicken and bland white rice to eat. Not the greatest way to live, but I made the most of it.
That is, until around January of 2011. I began to spiral even further downward and began experiencing worse flare-ups than ever before, but I did my best to soldier on. My parents nearly canceled a trip because of the pain I was in, but I told them to go - I'd be staying with my grandmother and her boyfriend, and it was most likely dehydration. I was told to drink Ensure and water, water, water until I started to feel better. Of course, that didn't happen.
The next morning, I was hospitalized. Family and friends stayed with me until my parents returned from their trip that evening. What I thought was going to be an over-night visit turned into two nights. Then three. Soon enough, I had my own room at the West Boca Medical Center and it didn't look like I'd be getting out too quickly. I'd taken a turn for the worst, and this time my body didn't seem to be able to fight back.
A few IVs, blood transfusions, multiple tests, two doses of Remicaid, some steroids, and a PICC line later and West Boca blurred into the Weston Cleveland Clinic. I hadn't eaten in three weeks. I could hardly remember what 'normal' was. It felt like ages that I'd been stuck in a bed when we finally decided that surgery was the only way I could go from here.
And I did.
Three surgeries. The first one, to remove my entire colon and let my body rest. Also, to create a stoma/ostomy bag, which I would have until my final take-down surgery. The second, to create the J-pouch - my new imitation colon, made out of my small intestine. And finally, the take-down, in which the ostomy bag was taken off, the stoma closed, and the J-pouch connected.
There are many more, many more details than that. I could go on for years describing exactly how I got through it, what medications I was on, what doctors I had. But then again, this is just an introduction!
I didn't have any friends who had gone through anything like this. I didn't know any teenagers I could talk to about getting through the hospital, surviving my disease, or surgery. Somehow, I made it through.
Long story short, I'm here to help. Anybody suffering from Ulcerative Colitis or Crohns disease. Anybody considering surgery. Anybody wondering what sort of foods they should stop eating. Anybody wanting to know how to deal with having an ostomy bag. Basically, I'm here for anybody and everybody.
I'm here to help and to let people of all ages know, that you can do this.
I suppose that, since this is my first post, I should give a little backstory.
Right! Let's get to it, then, shall we?
My name is Jamie Greenhut. Currently 18 years of age, currently studying at Savannah College of Art and Design in beautiful Savannah, Georgia. Also currently, a survivor of a lovely little disease called Ulcerative Colitis. Believe me, not nearly as glamorous as it sounds. Its sister disease, Crohn's? Yeah, it isn't that much of a charmer, either.
I was diagnosed with UC around the age of 13-14, after many years of symptoms and stomachaches and plenty of day of school missed. For the most part, at that time, my disease was mild and I only had to make a few minor adjustments to my lifestyle. A few different kinds of medication here, some diet changes there, and I was living quite comfortably with UC for a good year or so. Unfortunately, things began to go downhill over the next few years. More medication, more diet changes until my life slowly turned into 12 pills in the morning, 12 at night, and hardly anything but plain chicken and bland white rice to eat. Not the greatest way to live, but I made the most of it.
That is, until around January of 2011. I began to spiral even further downward and began experiencing worse flare-ups than ever before, but I did my best to soldier on. My parents nearly canceled a trip because of the pain I was in, but I told them to go - I'd be staying with my grandmother and her boyfriend, and it was most likely dehydration. I was told to drink Ensure and water, water, water until I started to feel better. Of course, that didn't happen.
The next morning, I was hospitalized. Family and friends stayed with me until my parents returned from their trip that evening. What I thought was going to be an over-night visit turned into two nights. Then three. Soon enough, I had my own room at the West Boca Medical Center and it didn't look like I'd be getting out too quickly. I'd taken a turn for the worst, and this time my body didn't seem to be able to fight back.
A few IVs, blood transfusions, multiple tests, two doses of Remicaid, some steroids, and a PICC line later and West Boca blurred into the Weston Cleveland Clinic. I hadn't eaten in three weeks. I could hardly remember what 'normal' was. It felt like ages that I'd been stuck in a bed when we finally decided that surgery was the only way I could go from here.
And I did.
Three surgeries. The first one, to remove my entire colon and let my body rest. Also, to create a stoma/ostomy bag, which I would have until my final take-down surgery. The second, to create the J-pouch - my new imitation colon, made out of my small intestine. And finally, the take-down, in which the ostomy bag was taken off, the stoma closed, and the J-pouch connected.
There are many more, many more details than that. I could go on for years describing exactly how I got through it, what medications I was on, what doctors I had. But then again, this is just an introduction!
I didn't have any friends who had gone through anything like this. I didn't know any teenagers I could talk to about getting through the hospital, surviving my disease, or surgery. Somehow, I made it through.
Long story short, I'm here to help. Anybody suffering from Ulcerative Colitis or Crohns disease. Anybody considering surgery. Anybody wondering what sort of foods they should stop eating. Anybody wanting to know how to deal with having an ostomy bag. Basically, I'm here for anybody and everybody.
I'm here to help and to let people of all ages know, that you can do this.
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