This Crohn's girl..from the beginning

Let's dig in!

My name is Desiree. I"m 26 years old, and currently live in South Carolina. I"m originally from Washington state, and moved to SC from California last year. My husband is a Marine. We have a dog named Peter....you'll see pictures of him. I love him, he's my baby. And no, i don't plan on having children anytime soon.

Oh, and I have Crohn's disease.

I've thought about starting a blog for awhile. To see changes in my disease process. To let other people know that they're not suffering alone. To get it all out there! Hey, if I'm going to suffer from this for the rest of my life, why not make it comical? Let's do this together.

In 2009, while working as an x-ray tech in Idaho, i was diagnosed with Crohn's. I knew something was wrong, there had been for awhile. The doctor told me before my colonoscopy that he knew what was wrong. And hey, I knew about it. I'm in the medical field. We see it. but having it written down on PAPER, be in your medical records. Knowing for the rest of your life that you have a disease, that affects your every day well being is different. I cried when he gave me my diagnoses. I knew and it still didn't matter, it had become official.

My disease's name is Jerry.

My husband picked a name for it while we were dating. He thought Jerry sounded like the name of an asshole. So it stuck. "Jerry is bugging me today," "i can't eat that, it will make Jerry angry." Sounds better than calling it was it really is. My body hating me. Rejecting foods i love. Making me change my diet. Not allowing me foods that normal Americans eat. Jerry deserves his asshole name. I just want a freaking pizza dipped in ranch with doritos.  Is that too much to ask?

I take medication. I poop, all the time. I have gas every day. I bleed, from places that i shouldn't. I cry, it hurts. I have flares. I have few normal days. I feel sorry for myself. But i also know that i could be so much worse. I could be on more meds. I could be in the hospital.  I could have an ostomy. But i don't. And changing my diet and every day lifestyle is one of the ways i'm hoping it doesn't come to that.

The point of all of this, is to let people know they aren't alone. I have no friends that have my disease.  They don't get it. I don't skip the ice cream and chicken alfredo because i want to, i do it because I HAVE TO. If I was dying tomorrow..i'd eat....

We'll get to that later.

My name is Desiree, and I have Crohn's disease.