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I called first thing Monday morning (8.16.21) and was told to come down and they’d squeeze me in. They were concerned that there was an active bleed, etc. So I dropped Hazel off at preschool and headed to town. Tori was amazing and willing to pick her up for me so I could go. 

I was apprehensive because I knew there wasn’t really the possibility of any good news, unfortunately. Based on labs etc, it would likely be either Crohn’s or Ulcerative Colitis, neither of which are fun diagnoses. But moving forward with figuring out what was going on felt positive, so that was good.

I met with Dr. Habib and didn’t even have to wait long to be squeezed in. I don’t know if he could tell I was in pain (and emotional) or if he was just hooking me up because the ER had called ahead and requested he save a spot for me, but either way - I left the office with a colonoscopy (scope from below) and EDG (scope from above) scheduled for the next day. 

I was scared but grateful to be able to get in so soon. Derek was the only CSA in the region who would be available the next day, so taking me to Safford for the procedure was going to be tricky. Thankfully, my mom swooped in to save the day. Truly. She drove up (six hours!), bringing dinner for the fam with her, and didn’t even sit down when she got here. She immediately began cleaning my neglected house and taking care of us all. She didn’t stop once for the whole week she was here, and I cannot even express the amount of gratitude and love I feel for her for her efforts. I was in desperate need of some tender mothering, and she absolutely came through. 

That night I started the ever-dreaded colonoscopy prep, and guys - it’s so bleeping disgusting! Soooooo disgusting. It tasted like burned rubber and reacted that way in my stomach. And I was supposed to drink an effing GALLON of it (GoLytely- gag). In 4 hours. I called our local pharmacy and begged them for something different. They had another option on hand (Suprep) that smelled better, still went down like poison, but you only had to drink 32 oz. Better. Still almost didn’t make it (the pooping was whatever; I’d had that going on for months, but the nausea was out of control). But I did. Then I pooped my brains out all night. Then I finally crashed.

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