The Aftermath: To Talk of Things to Come

November 2010

I was learning the hard way that having c.diff and taking metronidazole sucked. My stomach was upset and queasy all the time, I had no appetite, the meds left a terrible taste in my mouth, and also caused my fingernails to stop growing. However, I kept up my usual routine of school, speech class, babysitting, and volunteering. My mom decided to come to the hospital with me to have a little chat with the head coordinator of the volunteers. The only place I would have been exposed to c.diff was at the hospital so my mom wanted me to start wearing gloves for my whole shift. She also wanted me to wear a mask while cleaning toys. My first shift back after being diagnosed with c.diff proved to be a little difficult. I explained what had happened to the hospital employees I worked with, and they told me that there was "no way" I could have picked up c.diff at their hospital. All toys that patients with c.diff used were put into bio-hazard bags and cleaned separately. They didn't have a problem with me wearing gloves and a mask while cleaning toys. When my volunteering partner, J, showed up I told her what had happened. When I said that I had been diagnosed with c.diff, she responded by telling me that she contracted c.diff when she was a patient at the very same hospital! I told J that I was going to have to start wearing gloves, and she decided to wear gloves with me since it was "such a great idea." How sweet!! Meanwhile, my mom was informing the volunteering coordinator about what happened. The coordinator acted like she had never heard of c.diff before, but sympathized with my symptoms. The coordinator also gave me my own volunteering smock that I could bring home and wash. Next my mom stopped in the playroom to see me. I was making rounds with J at that time so my mom talked with one of the employees that I had just informed about my condition. This employee also acted like she had never heard of this infection before. I felt so self-conscious as I cleaned toys in my mask; I could barely breathe and talk with J while cleaning toys. J didn't make a big deal about my mask, and we still had fun volunteering together.



The famous Gryffindor scarf



  My diet was not improving at all. I couldn't stomach the thought of milk or meat so I ate very bland foods and drank 7up or juice. As November progressed, the excitement began to build for the first part of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I was still getting an escape and a distraction from my stomach when I read the Harry Potter books. I wanted to go to the midnight showing of the movie on November 19. I planned to re-use my Halloween costume for the midnight showing. Before I got sick, I had started on knitting a Gryffindor scarf. There were 60-some stitches and I was using heavy yarn so knitting was kind of exhausting, especially when I was so weak from the mono. With about 10 days until the midnight showing, I decided to finish my Gryffindor scarf! However, there was a slight problem: I had 10 days to knit 55 inches. Driven by nothing but pure determination and perseverance, I knitted every chance I could find. My wonderful mother pitched in and knitted whenever I couldn't knit because of school or any of my other activities. I knitted so much that my dreams were filled with knitting maroon and gold, and my fingers twitched when I was taking a rare break. Every evening, my mom and I were watching the first six Harry Potter movies to get ready for the premier of the seventh. I was looking forward to November 18 very much because of two reasons: 1) Harry Potter at 12:01...I guess that would technically be the 19, but we were going to the theater on the 18. 2) I would take the last horrid metronidazole pill on November 18! It was going to be a great day....if I could finish my scarf!

 All my perseverance and determination paid off when I finished the Gryffindor scarf on November 17! The finished product was about 67 inches long--almost one foot taller than me.

 November 18 was one of the slowest days ever! I was so excited for the midnight showing and excited to take my last pill. Mom and I finished the sixth movie before an exciting dinner: I took my last pill and ate meat for the first time in a month. It was a little bit of bacon in a casserole, and it tasted so good! Later on that evening, with my Gryffindor scarf in place and my mom and sister with me, I attended my first midnight showing. Even though I was excited about the movie and no more metronidazole, I still didn't feel well. My mom bought me some 7up at the theater to try to calm my stomach down. Once the movie started, I forgot all about it. The movie was, of course, terrific, I bawled like a baby when Dobby died.



Me dressed as Hermione with my
favorite character, Severus Snape!





Thanksgiving was coming up quickly, and my family had plans to go to Minneapolis after Thanksgiving. Daniel and my dad were going to see a football game while the girls went shopping at the Mall of America. Even though I was done taking the medicine, my stomach was still upset daily. Our theory was that the medicine and infection had really messed up my stomach so it might take a little bit to settle everything down. Armed with 7up (the holiday pomegranate flavor, for variety!) I headed to Minneapolis for shopping and fun! We all had a great time. I shopped until I dropped at the Mall of America and drank my first coffee drink since my stomach troubles began. I needed a 7up to help with the chaos that caused, but I enjoyed the mini-vacation nevertheless!

Christmas preparations were in full swing by the time I got back from Minneapolis. Christmas is my favorite time of the year! I love all the sights, songs, sounds, and smells of Christmas. This year, however, Christmas didn't seem to bring as much joy as it did in the years before. I contributed that to my stomach that was still upset on a daily basis. I had tried drinking milk and that was a disaster. I was getting tired of eating Tums and drinking 7up. My mom said that I should start writing down what I ate and how I felt after eating to see if there were any "food trends" that would show a certain food that wasn't sitting well. I was fed up with dealing with an upset stomach every day. On December 6, my mom took me back to Dr. S. My appetite was still gone; I had lost 11 pounds I first got c.diff. Dr. S. was stumped. We had stumped the master. The master, Dr. S., came up with a few more things to try: 1) an ultrasound of my gallbladder. What does my gallbladder have to do with my stomach? An ultrasound?!? Like what pregnant people have done?!?! I was not excited about this idea. 2) My mom overheard Nurse T suggested that Dr. S. test me for some disease called "seal-e-yack" disease. That sounds horrid. What is that?! My mom explained to me that people with this "seal-e-yack" disease can not eat anything with wheat in it. No wheat?!? "Oh, that would suck!" I commented. 3) Dr. S. thought it was time that I see a pediatric gastroenterologist--a doctor who specializes in children and the digestive track. Dr. S. told us that there was a pediatric gastroenterologist located in the same building. Dr. S.'s office is on the second floor and this specialist's office was on the first floor. Dr. S. then told us that there would be at least a two month wait to see this doctor.

"We can't wait that long." My mom said.

Dr. S. then recommended a pediatric gastroenterologist at the same hospital where I volunteered.

Option #3 sounded terrifying. A stomach doctor? Somebody other than Dr. S. taking care of me? No. Absolutely not.

We scheduled the ultrasound and blood was drawn for this strange "seal-e-yack" disease. On the way home from Dr. S.'s office, I looked over my food journal notes to see if any foods from wheat made me feel sick. It was hard to tell, mainly because I ingested wheat at every single meal.

"If I can't eat wheat, I am just going to die! All my favorite foods have wheat in them!" I complained.

My six week long food journal

 The ultrasound of my gallbladder was two days later. I was so nervous. I had to get up early in the morning, and I couldn't eat anything. This was the first test that I had to go through. I thought only pregnant women had to have ultrasounds. I had no idea what to expect as I followed a hospital employee to the ultrasound waiting room. I was very glad I wasn't at the "other hospital" where I volunteered. Seeing people I worked with would have been so awkward. A nice man called my name and told me that he would be doing the ultrasound. My mom sat next to me as the tech squirted the hot and sticky gel on to my stomach and rubbed it around with something that looked like a computer mouse. Images of my internal organs popped up on a screen by the tech. The tech did lots of typing and clicking on his keyboard. This is taking forever! Eventually the tech gave me some towels to wipe the gel off and sent me on my way. I texted my siblings saying that I survived the ultrasound. Rachel responded by telling me that I'll be pregnant the next time I had to have an ultrasound. My sweet mom had also fasted with me so we stopped by Hy-Vee for breakfast. We ate some yummy chocolate chip muffins, and mom treated me with a coffee drink from Caribou Coffee. Now that the worst was over, we just had to wait until the results came.

 The ultrasound was normal! It was nice to know that all my internal organs were fine. The blood results for that awful disease where you can't eat any wheat also came back normal-ish. There are five levels to the test and two of my levels were elevated, but we were reassured that all five levels had to be elevated to be unfortunate enough to never be able to eat wheat--ever again.  However, an appointment was made for January 11, 2011, with Dr. D.S.--a pediatric gastroenterologist or "stomach doctor" as I called him--at the Other Hospital (where I volunteered). Dr. S. also wanted me to come back once a month for three months for a weight check. I started drinking Boost drinks to help with my weight. They were gross at first, but I got used to it. I seemed to be improving a little bit every day though. I occasionally felt hunger pangs and my appetite was slowly returning. I had a strong craving for KFC's Famous Bowl one night for dinner, and I ate 3/4 of it in one setting! I still kept track of what foods I ate and how I felt after eating, but my stomach was much less upset. I wasn't drinking 7up and munching on Tums all the time either. I prayed every night that I wouldn't have to see the stomach doctor. As I was improving, I began to look forward to Christmas with as much enthusiasm as I usually did. My stomach was still upset, but the severity of it was much less. Sometimes a stomach ache even went away by itself! I celebrated Christmas with my family and enjoyed spending a few days at my Aunt Deena and Uncle Roger's house after Christmas. We played with their Wii, watched movies, and experienced riding in a sled that was being pulled by Uncle Roger and his four-wheeler. Rachel and I had a blast!



New Year's Eve

The last four months of 2010 had been rough, but things seemed to be getting better for me and my health. On New Year's Eve some friends from church came over, and we played games and munched on my mom's famous New Year's Eve snacks. I had a lot of fun, but for some reason I could barely eat any of my mom's snacks. I just wasn't hungry and none of the food looked good. I wasn't going to let this random loss of appetite stop me from celebrating the new year. I didn't know what was coming in 2011, but I was ready to handle another year of growing older and learning new things. I did not know then that 2011 was definitely going to be a year of learning. I would learn how to cope with a "annus horribilis"--Latin for a year of horrors.

TO BE CONTINUED!!