My Story - Endoscopy and Scar

Life has certainly calmed down for us recently. I have returned to work, and although that makes things more hectic on a daily basis, our overall "what next?" feeling has diminished. Charlotte has been taken off a preemie doctor schedule, she's on the full term growth charts and making new friends at our wonderful daycare. You wouldn't know she was a preemie by just  looking at her.  Of course, she is taking things at her own pace but she has accomplished about 75% of the same milestones a full term baby of her age would have. I'm one proud momma!

I recently had an MRI that showed a clean bill of health. I still have lots of scar tissue, but that can be expected and will dissipate over time. Because my intestines are now fully healed, I can have an endoscopy . I wasn't able to before because they didn't want to irritate my bowel or get a false reading of inflammation. With Crohn's (and most intestinal disorders), inflammation is the key indicator. Now that I shouldn't have any residual inflammation from surgery, they can gauge how severe my disease is.

However, the hope is that because I had a bowel resection and they removed the diseased portion of my bowel, I may be fully in remission. This would be the best news ever!! I am still going to be on Humira because I presented so severely, they want me to avoid this happening again at all costs. Usually, people with Crohn's are diagnosed before a bowel perforation and can avoid surgery. But me being me, I had to shake things up! :)

After I get my endoscopy done, I will post with updates!

Fouth of July Parade in Destin, Florida

Additionally, I am consulting a plastic surgeon regarding my scar soon. I actually look at my scar now and see a story. It doesn't make me think of the days I was scared or sad, it makes me think of all our blessings: the doctors, Charlotte, our families and all the support we received. 

I refuse to wear a one-piece bathing suit, so I'm sure some people wonder what they heck happened to me when we are at the pool! Chase thinks it would be funny to make up a crazy story, like I got attacked by a ninja and lived to tell the tale, but the truth is crazy enough! Below are pictures of my scar a week after surgery (minus the wound, I thought I would spare you that) and my scar as of today. Not so bad considering how it started!  

I do want to see what options are out there though, because my scar is actually "pinned down" to my fascia. This means if I ever gain weight (say during a pregnancy), I will have a crevice. I'm sure it wouldn't be the prettiest thing around when/if that happens.