Well, at least life is remaining exciting (challenging) with the twists, turns, and curveballs it sends my way.

I spent 14 hours at the ER on Thursday. Arrived at 4:30 a.m. Left at 6:30 p.m.

I avoid the ER as much as possible but sometimes the pain can’t be ignored. Terrible stomach pains convinced me to wake up Marc and to go out in public in my pyjamas on Thursday morning.

At the end of it all, I really did experience all levels of humanity. I heard and saw things I’ve never anticipated. I witnessed people treating doctors and nurses very poorly. I saw the kindness in people who realize that there is someone feeling worse than them. I experienced the very short tolerance people have for waiting. I heard yelling, threats, and foul language – all directed at the nurses and doctors. Shocking really.

I neglected to bring my Kindle with me on Thursday morning, thinking I wouldn’t be there very long. But frankly, I was in no condition to read and I didn’t need the Kindle to pass the time – there were enough fascinating/shocking people to do this for me.

Blood work, CT scans, surgical team consult, GI team consult, and more blood work. At the end of it, no one is sure what is causing my ridiculous stomach pain – likely a combination of a worsening diversion colitis flare and the impacts of the Prednisone taper. The body is so super complicated.

Turns out I have to go back for more tests because the CT scan showed that my liver bile ducts are narrowing and scarred. Apparently this can be due to Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis (PSC). Turns out that people like me with ulcerative colitis are susceptible to this disease. It causes narrowing of the bile ducts which could eventually result in severe liver damage. Sigh. The good news is my liver enzymes are normal so this is a good thing.

The other fun twist to this crazed body of mine is that the arthritis pain is back. At least I had one good month free of the crazy joint pain. I’ve got a prescription for strong pain killers – I use these when the joint pain and/or stomach pain is too much. Fun.

So yeah, lots of excitement here.