One surgery... comin' right up!

Camera capsule results are in! We have yet to see them, but we hear they’re good...what ever that means! ;) Bad news is… the camera is stuck. Long story-semi-short… Jay will be having surgery on the 10^th of April. He has developed a Stricture, which is a narrowing of his intestines. It’s narrow enough that the camera can’t fit through. They’re going to do a Right Hemicolectomy, removing 6-10 inches of his colon & 2-5 inches of his ileum (however much that is inflamed right now), then the colon is then reconnected to the small intestines, as the Doctor says, he will connect “healthy to healthy”. Recovery time will be 2-4 days in the hospital (waiting for his intestines to “wake-up”) and then 3-4 weeks of recovery time at home. We are grateful for Jay’s work, who have been SO supportive and wants him to get healthy and his teachers as well. We were hoping for an early surgery day, due to school & because of possible blockage the camera could cause, but the 10^th will suffice.

I also forgot to write about Jay’s incident over a month ago. This entry would be terribly long if I went into the full story, so I’ll just say this: He had “stroke-like” symptoms one evening at his church meeting, having his whole right side go numb, he could barley speak, vision was blurry and the room was spinning. Jay asked for a blessing from the brethren that were there & he was better within 10 minutes. We spent the next morning in the ER again doing lots of test. Tests came back “clear” meaning it was not a Stroke… Thank goodness!!! They diagnosed him with a “complicated migraine”. What is that, you ask? Go ahead and Google it. It’s a real "thing". Who knew?

Jay is feeling fine and is doing great. He amazes me with all that he does, and always with a positive attitude. Even when he’s not feeling his best, he still shines. What would I do without that boy! Thank you for your thoughts, concerns and prayers. To say we REALLY appreciate them, is a complete understatement.

I found this explanation of Crohns disease on a blog the other day that I thought it really explained Crohns well.

Crohn's Disease is a chronic autoimmune disorder. Basically what happens is that your body identifies food and good bacteria and other healthy bits as dangerous invaders so it floods your colon or other digestive system because Crohn's can affect anything from your throat to your anus (Jay’s is in his Ileum, which is in his small intestines, where the small intestines connect to the large intestines). With white blood cells which try to fight off the infection that isn't really an infection which causes inflammation, ulcerations and real infections. These can be very dangerous as they can create tunnels (called fistulas) from your colon to other organs and can even allow bile to seep into other parts of your body (Jay had a fistula back in 2003 while on his mission, and had it surgically closed in 2006, which is when we found out Jay had Crohns). Crohn's Disease can also cause arthritis, vision problems, skin troubles and malnutrition leading to weak bones etc.

And if you’re wondering what a Stricture is…

When inflammation is present for a long time (chronic), it sometimes can cause scarring. Scar tissue is typically not as flexible as healthy tissue. Therefore, when scaring occurs in the intestines, the scarring may narrow the width of the passageway of the involved segments of the bowel. These constricted areas are called strictures. The strictures may be mild or severe, depending on how much they block the contents of the bowel from passing through the narrowed area. Stricture formation is the hallmark of Crohn’s Disease.

And now you're in the know about Crohns Disease! ;)

I hope you're all having a wonderful week! Xoxo Heath