I’m sorry for the long delay in keeping you all updated, but I haven’t had a whole lot of energy lately. First, for those of you who don’t really know what’s happened, I’m going to give you a quick history of my problem.
About a year ago, I started having really bad stomach cramps. They would last for a day or so, and then go away. Sometimes for weeks, sometimes for months. But, they became more and more frequent the further along I went. At several times the pain was bad enough that I went to the hospital. 4 times I was pretty much ignored and sent away, the doctors telling me that it would clear itself up in a couple of days. Since about mid-December, I’ve been in constant pain. I never really complained about it, because I kind of became used to it. Sometimes every hour, or 30 minutes, or what have you, the pain would intensify. I’d be walking down the halls at work and suddenly fall to the floor crumpled in pain. These were my good days. Sometimes the pain was bad enough that I couldn’t even go to work. At this point, my doctor discovered acid reflux and decided that was the cause of my problems. He was wrong.
Anyway, on Friday, the 9th, the pain was so bad, I couldn’t even walk. I had to call my dad at 6am to drive over an hour to come pick me up and drive me to the hospital. I decided on a different hospital this time, hoping not to be blown off. I got called in about 9 and they started running real tests. Unable to find anything, they started asking around the hospital. By chance, one of the best surgeons any of the doctors knew happened to be in the building checking on a patient. He came down, checked my symptoms and order a CT scan.
It was at this point they discovered some kind of mass in my lower intestine. I’ve never been so scared in my life as I was at that moment. There was no way to tell whqat it was without going in. The surgeon got a couple of other specialists gathered up and they had me in surgery in less than an hour.
When I came to, I found they had removed about a foot of my lower intestine along with a mass the size of a baseball. The doctors had no idea how I could even drive, much less walk and go to work. It was 4 days before the pathology came in and I found out it was Crohn’s, and not cancer.
After 11 days in the hospital, I was released, and I’ve been staying with my parents ever since. The pain is bearable now, but I’m still having to use the Vicadin(good stuff). Not as good as the morphine, but I’m not complaining. And, now that I know I have Crohn’s, I’ll be able to keep it under control.
So, now, the real point of this email. Thank yous in no particular order. I hope I got all of this straight. I apologize if I mess up anywhere in here. I was pretty out of it.:
Grace - Thank you for the flowers and balloons. My Mom very much appreciated the books and food. She was pretty stressed out. She also wanted me to let you know that she looks a lot better now that she’s not in the hospital 12 hours a day.
JimB - Thanks for the balloon, plants, and the stuffed dog. I amassed quite a collection of stuffed animals while in there for some reason. Unfortunately, I may never be able to drink a beer with you again. But, we’ll see.
Zyada - Thank you for the plants and more balloons. We had our own little adventure trying to get the balloons through the hospital to the car. They caused a few problems in the elevator that had to be overcome. 
Rocking Chair - It was a while before I could read the book(‘Wanted: Dumb or Alive’) because I was afraid to laugh those first couple of days. It hurt was too much and I really was afraid of busting stitches. I have enjoyed it over the last couple of days, though.
Scotticher - Luckily, I’d moved into a private room, or I wouldn’t have had enough room for all the plants. I had my own little nursery going in there. It was greatly appreciated.
I’m sorry I can’t thank everybody personally. There’s just too many. Grace had printed out the get well thread JimB started and brought it to me in the hospital. It was a laugh I really needed at the time. I really wanted to thank all of you for your prayers and words of encouragement. I’ve had a lot of help getting through this, and hopefully I’ll be able to return the favors in the future.
Well. I’m getting kind of tired, so I’m going to get out of here. Thank you all again. I should be back on the boards more regularly in the future as I get my strength back up.
