Ulcerative Colitis

For the last few weeks my disease, Ulcerative colitis, has been flared-up.  It has been over 5 years since I have had any major issues and boy did I easily forget how terrible it is!  It does not only effect me physically but puts a strain on my family when I don't feel well, especially Heath (we all know caretaker isn't high up on his list of strengths).  I just got back from the gastro and now have a lot more drugs to use and have been poked and prodded with tests as well.  I have a lot of friends and family praying for me so if you haven't already, please put me on your prayer list.  Pray for healing and good test results.

Another frustrating aspect of this is that after all my hard work on eating healthy and having a nutritional diet it all goes out the door.  I have to be on a low residue diet which really means anything that has little to no nutritional value!  Although it is fun to eat foods that I have cut out for the last few months I can only imagine what this will do to my body weight and health along with adjusting back to eating right once I am in remission!  I have nothing to eat at my house because I don't buy that junk anymore!  Ahhh!  

For those who are unfamiliar with UC I have included the wikipedia summary.  Beware it isn't pretty but I have spared posting pictures on this blog entry! :) 

Ulcerative colitis (Colitis ulcerosa, UC) is a form of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Ulcerative colitis is a form of colitis, a disease of the intestine, specifically the large intestine or colon, that includes characteristic ulcers, or open sores, in the colon. The main symptom of active disease is usually constant diarrhea mixed with blood, of gradual onset. IBD is often confused with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), a troublesome, but much less serious, condition. Ulcerative colitis has similarities to Crohn's disease, another form of IBD. Ulcerative colitis is an intermittent disease, with periods of exacerbated symptoms, and periods that are relatively symptom-free. Although the symptoms of ulcerative colitis can sometimes diminish on their own, the disease usually requires treatment to go into remission.

Ulcerative colitis occurs in 35–100 people for every 100,000 in the United States,^[1] or less than 0.1% of the population. The disease is more prevalent in northern countries of the world, as well as in northern areas of individual countries or other regions. Although ulcerative colitis has no known cause, there is a presumed genetic component to susceptibility. The disease may be triggered in a susceptible person by environmental factors. Although dietary modification may reduce the discomfort of a person with the disease, ulcerative colitis is not thought to be caused by dietary factors. Ulcerative colitis is treated as an autoimmune disease. Treatment is with anti-inflammatory drugs, immunosuppression, and biological therapy targeting specific components of the immune response. Colectomy (partial or total removal of the large bowel through surgery) is occasionally necessary, and is considered to be a cure for the disease.

The clinical presentation^[4] of ulcerative colitis depends on the extent of the disease process. Patients usually present with diarrhea mixed with blood and mucus, of gradual onset that persists for an extended period (weeks). They also may have weight loss and blood on rectal examination. The disease may be accompanied with different degrees of abdominal pain, from mild discomfort to painful bowel movements or painful abdominal cramping with bowel movements.
Ulcerative colitis is associated with a general inflammatory process that affects many parts of the body. Sometimes these associated extra-intestinal symptoms are the initial signs of the disease, such as painful, arthritic knees in a teenager. The presence of the disease cannot be confirmed, however, until the onset of intestinal manifestations.

Pee-pee in the Potty!

We have had the training toilets out for the last 6 months per request from the pediatrician.  In the beginning Braxton loved to play with it, putting baby Shrek on it, to do his business.  Now they are only used as step stools or playing pretend while keeping someone else company while they actually use the real potty.  The only time that Braxton really practices is before bath time when he is conveniently naked.  So today he was headed to the potty before bath, Brooklynn a witness as she was already soaking in the tub.  I come in to see him on the potty with a small puddle on the floor.  She informs me that he dripped a little while taking the time to pull up the lid.  So when he popped up off the toilet we were all surprised to see the bottom filled!  Yeah!  First time peeing on the potty - a few weeks shy of turning 2.  He got high 5's all around and lots of verbal praise.  We will see if this is just a good timing kind of thing or if he is ready to start training.  I'm not holding my breath but am very proud of our boy!

 *since I posted this Braxton surprised us again by using the potty before bathtime again two days later.  However I made the mistake of letting him do his treatment without a diaper because he had just gone - the result was urine on the chair pillow as well as my pants! 

Quick Children's Museum Stop

Since we were already downtown for his check-up we decided to stop by the Indianapolis Children's Museum for an hour or so.  Braxton had a great time, playing hard.  We even ran into our friends Natalie and Andrew.   

Braxton and Andrew mowing together

Creating a masterpiece

Our finished artwork

Although he is a momma's boy he is spitting image of daddy!

Wish we could borrow the outfit for Halloween!  We want him to be B-rax the dangerous dinosaur!

They opened a new exhibit at the museum.  Here Braxton is climbing on some underwater cannons.  He did have on scuba gear but it got too heavy and awkward to do the climbing.

Riley Pulmology Outpatient Check-up

Braxton had his check up today with his Riley Hospital Pediatric Pulmologist, Dr. Macke.  It is fun to watch Braxton interact with Dr. Macke.  He along with the nurses and staff always get a chuckle from watching Braxton and his spectacular personality.

Although Braxton wasn't in bad shape, Dr. Macke wasn't happy to hear that Braxton hasn't made more progress than he has.  He also did hear more nasal sounds from him than before.  So he will continue to be on Pulmicort twice daily through the nebulizer, on his Previcid once a day, and now he is starting Singulair once a day as well.  This is what Brooklynn takes in the late fall/winter/early spring so hopefully it will help little man out like it does her!  He is such a trooper through all of his ailments....I just hope that one day he will out grow them! 

Bailey Family Night Pizza

We had a family night tonight making home-made pizza!  Brooklyoni and Braxtonio were the head chefs.  We made a small pizza for just the kids and used the rest of the dough for breadsticks.  Then Heath and I made a whole-wheat one for ourselves.  It was yummy!!! 

Braxtonio cutting the mushrooms

Having fun with the dough (I think they played with it a little too much as it didn't turn out quite normal but still good)!

Braxtonio couldn't help but eat on the job

Finished products by the proud chefs

Braxtonio enjoying his pepperoni, onion, green pepper pizza

Beautiful Brooklyoni enjoying her pepperoni only pizza

Labor Day Weekend

Well Labor Day weekend didn't turn out as well as what Braxton and I had anticipated, as we both had ailments, but we still made the most of it.  Right before Heath and Brooklynn took off for their trip south (if Heath gives me some pics I will post them later) Braxton came down with something....hard to tell if it was a bug or just something that triggered an asthma flare-up, but either way was miserable with his breathing and sleeping.  So it was pretty low-key around here as we didn't get to make our way up north to visit friends and family nor visit the Ft. Wayne zoo as was planned.  However mom did end up coming down to spend Saturday evening and Sunday with us.  We had a nice dinner out at a local Mexican restaurant on Saturday night, church on Sunday, I ran some errands alone after church and then went to the Johnston's for a cook-out celebrating Blaine's 65th birthday.  I tried to snag some photos but didn't quite have our new camera figured out so the photos turned out poorly.  I did get an extremely short video of Braxton kind-of jumping on the trampoline.

 

Here are a few snaps while mom was here.

 

I started having some issues with my ulcerative colitis last week, an infection I believe, and ended the weekend with intense pain, not to mention a sudden weight-loss of 5-7 pounds over a week.  I got some meds yesterday so hopefully the torment will reside but I'm sure the weight will come right back too!  Today has been better...   

Riding bikes!

This summer both kids learned to ride their bike individually, Braxton with training wheels and Brooklynn without.  Here is a short video from yesterday showing off their capabilities.