wednesdays make me stronger!

i have cronn's disease. crohn's is an inflammatory bowel disease, which is the delicate way of saying there are so many things wrong with my butt it's not even funny. i was diagnosed with crohn's at the age of 19 after about 7 years of undiagnosed symptomatic ailments. one side effect of having this disease is that i'm chronically anemic. anemia is another disorder that i've been dealing with since i was about 15 years old. to battle the anemia, i am now undergoing iron infusions. it's safer for me to have these infusions than to take an oral pill. i've experienced a severe bleed at the ileum from a tablet fusing to the lining of my intestine where i have a stricture or narrowing in the tube; and eroding it. we don't want to do that again, so for now i receive weekly iron infusions at magee women's cancer center here in pittsburgh.

i receive my liquid my energy every wednesday afternoon. for now it's six weeks on, then i'll go monthly. there are cozy chairs, warm blankets, friendly faces, a tv, a good book, dimmed lighting, and wonderfully sweet women fighting the good fight in abundance. sometimes i'm in quiet corner by myself. other times i'm in the middle of the hustle and bustle. some days i read. other days i just sit and listen. but one day someone did something really sweet. an anonymous stranger had dozens of pink roses delivered to the ward. one solitary beautiful pink rose was handed out to every single patient that day. so of course, i had to stop and smell it. it was a good day.

some days there are bruises and some pain, but other days not much more than a little time spent cozy in a chair with smiling faces. i'm thankful that i have really good insurance and that i'm lucky enough to be able to receive my infusions. i often think of the many hundreds of thousands of people who have this disease who are not as lucky as i am. and for them, i follow my doctors orders, i go for my infusions and i try to live my life as happily and productively as i possibly can because i know that i am lucky to receive this help!

cheers to wednesdays! smell those roses when ever you can! ;-)