Crohn's Disease: My Life, My Journey

By Leslie Myers

At the age of 23, Leslie Myers, young and in love with life, was suddenly afflicted by Crohn's disease. Throughout her 22-year struggle with the disease she experienced chronic fatigue, excruciating stomach pain, countless hospital visits, bowel removal surgery, and an array of medications, often with less-than-pleasant side effects. Aside from the physical side effects, she struggled with the extreme emotional turmoil chronic illness can bring. Did she give up? No. She learned to make the best of life, no matter what it threw at her, including staying married to the man of her dreams and raising two healthy children.

Journey with her as she tells her tale of pain and triumph; sorrow and joy; tears and laughter—but more than anything else—the love and happiness that has kept her glued together for so many years. The story of Leslie Myers is heartbreaking, uplifting, and best of all, very true. Told realistically and honestly, Crohn's Disease: My Life, My Journey is a story you won't forget.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Leslie Myers
• Release date: May 15, 2013
• ISBN: 9781938886546

Leslie Myers

Leslie Myers was born in Wallaceburg, Ontario and grew up on a farm. She was diagnosed with Crohn's disease in 1991 and continues to fight the battle. She has been married to her husband Andy for twenty-two years and they have two grown children. She is the owner of her own home salon and in her spare time loves working in her yard, journaling, walking, playing the guitar and spending time with their lab Bella.

Book preview

Section 1: Bowels in Distress

A Night at The Bar

In the spring of 1991 my world was rocked with the diagnosis of Crohn’s disease, a chronic inflammatory bowel illness. This is my story.

It was a Friday night when I went for a casual drink after work at our local bar. My mother and I sat by the entrance door chatting. In walked happy-go-lucky Andy. I had known him for most of my life, as we lived in the same small town and our families knew each other. He walked up to me, put his hands on my shoulder for a squeeze to say hello and then walked to his table.

He’s interested in you, my mom said.

I looked at her and said, Who, Andy? Nah, he’s just friendly to everyone, that’s just who he is.

An hour later Mom went home. After she left I walked over to talk to a group of my friends. The bar was packed full that night and chairs were scarce, so we leaned against the wall and talked amongst each other. I recall Andy waving at me to come over and sit with him. He was sitting with mutual friends, so I went over and sat down. We talked up a storm for a couple of hours while people around us danced and carried on with their own conversations. At the end of the night, Andy asked me to attend a wedding with him that he was going to the following weekend. I wasn’t expecting it, and immediately I said no. I had recently ended a painful relationship a few months prior and was nowhere near ready to start dating again. He understood my reservations and graciously accepted my refusal.

The following Monday, Mr. Happy-go-lucky showed up delivering mail where I worked. Andy was a mailman. I thought it was peculiar that he was delivering that day, since it wasn’t his usual route. We talked for a little bit and, once again, he asked me out on a date. This guy is not giving up, I thought. I said no, but told him it was only because I was still trying to figure myself out and that I needed to work through getting past my previous relationship. Once again he was considerate of my answer.

A couple days later I received a beautiful bouquet of flowers from Andy. He was persistent and showed no signs of giving up. I thought it was incredibly sweet. I called to thank him for the flowers, but stayed true to my hesitation to date. I was willing to be friends, but nothing more than that. It wasn’t because he wasn’t a great guy, I had just built a wall around myself and was afraid to let anyone in.

A week after I received those flowers, a dear friend of mine told me that I should reconsider taking Andy up on his offer to go out sometime. She seemed to think I needed to give him a chance. She had a strong feeling that he would be good for me, and she was very insistent in trying to tell me that I needed to open myself up again.

I was still hesitant until the night I drove by his house. Noticing his lights were on, I drove around the block three or four times. Something was telling me I should go see him. Amazingly, I found the courage to finally pull into his driveway and knock on his door. The door opened and there stood Andy with a smile on his face, welcoming me in. We spent hours and hours talking that night. One thing led to another, and it wasn’t long before we were dating and getting to know each other.

We both realized in a short amount of time how much we had in common. I was very comfortable with Andy’s easy going, sensitive, confident nature, and he always made me laugh. Almost six years older than me, he had a great sense of direction for his life. We noticed that we both wanted the same things for our future. I felt like I’d been dating him for years.

Around the same time, I began experiencing occasional cramping and diarrhea. I had episodes of pain, diarrhea, and constipation in my teenage years, but always managed to cope with it in silence or flat-out denial. It was embarrassing to discuss it with anyone. Who wants to discuss diarrhea? Eventually I shared it with my mom and she booked me to see a doctor.

He told me I had irritable bowel syndrome and that it was in my best interest to change my diet. I made a few changes, but nothing seemed to change much. My symptoms continued to appear with no predictability. It was a nuisance as well as highly embarrassing.

I tried to hide my embarrassing bowel symptoms from Andy, but eventually I had no choice but to be upfront and honest with him about what I was experiencing. Even though we were at a point where we were comfortable talking about almost everything, I felt awkward and humiliated. The worst of it was that I feared rejection, but I knew if I was going to continue dating him, I had to be honest. There were days that I spent abnormal amounts of time in the bathroom, and for that he deserved an explanation.

He was more than understanding and we both coped with my crazy bowel patterns in stride. I continued to believe my diagnosis from the doctor and made the assumption that it was going to come in and out of my life on occasion and that would be that.

The December after we started dating I made travel plans to go on vacation. The weather was fabulous, the food was good, and I had a great time catching up with friends. I called home to talk to Andy and we both missed each other like crazy. As much as I was enjoying my trip, I was looking forward to coming home to see him. I arrived at the airport and, once I got through customs, Andy was waiting for me with a smile on his face and hug to give. We were so excited to see each other.

An hour later, Andy gave me a beautiful letter and then popped the question. I was in complete shock. I wasn’t expecting it, because we hadn’t been dating very long, but I knew I loved him and had no reservations. I was able to be me with him. I said yes, of course. We talked for hours that evening about my trip and our plans for the future.

It was after midnight when Andy fell asleep and I started feeling some intense cramping. I figured my bowels were acting up due to our eventful night of exciting emotions. I also wondered if jet lag and a change in food was the culprit.

I needed to walk, but didn’t want to wake Andy, so I spent four hours pacing the halls of the hotel trying to alleviate the cramping and pain. I was in and out of the main hotel washroom numerous times, feeling horrible. When Andy awoke and noticed I wasn’t in the room, he found me out in the hallway and knew I wasn’t well. We headed home, where I laid low for the rest of the day. A week later I started feeling more like myself and the cramping disappeared.

As the months went along, Andy and I started making plans for our wedding. The days were busy with work, everyday tasks, and preparing for our special day. I was happy, excited, and very much in love. I still experienced the odd cramping and diarrhea on occasion. I was becoming more and more accustomed to it, though I still found it to be extremely annoying and aggravating. But I had a wedding to look forward to, and told myself that my bowels were reacting to my excitement and that it would eventually improve.

On our wedding day I married my best friend. When we vowed to be there for each other in sickness and in health, we had no idea of the road ahead of us. We had a fabulous honeymoon in Collingwood, Ontario, and came home to start our new life as a married couple. Within weeks of our journey together I started experiencing nausea, stomach pain, random fevers, and bowel problems.

The cramping and digestive trouble I was experiencing after our honeymoon was worse than what I had dealt with in the past. I was admitted to the hospital and had various blood tests and x-rays to determine what was causing the symptoms. The doctor’s opinion was that I was experiencing a bad case of acid reflux and irritable bowel syndrome along with a probable virus. I didn’t know much about acid reflux or irritable bowel syndrome, but it made sense to me except for the mysterious fevers I was experiencing. I was sent home with medications to help relieve my symptoms.

Within a couple of weeks my symptoms improved enough that I was back on my feet and life went back to normal. The fevers were gone and the cramping had subsided to tolerable levels. I still struggled with my bowels, but it was not new or foreign to me so I just continued to cope with it.

My First Pregnancy and Diagnosis of Crohn’s Disease

In the middle part of September we were beyond ecstatic, as it was then that we discovered I was pregnant. We both wanted to start our family as soon as possible, and our wish had come true. Our exciting time, however, quickly turned into a roller coaster ride. Within weeks of finding out I was pregnant, Andy and I noticed a decline in my health. I began vomiting a few times a day, but I knew it could be part of a normal pregnancy.

Someone had given me the book What to Expect When You’re Expecting. In it, I read that some women are nauseated through the entire nine months. I assumed I was one of the unlucky women who had the negative side effects of pregnancy. I took medication to reduce the nausea, but it didn’t help. My doctor put me on another drug for the vomiting, and it helped somewhat, but not enough. I woke up in the mornings and did my best to get through the day at work living on dry crackers alone.

Eventually I was not only dealing with vomiting and dry heaves, but with horrible cramping, diarrhea, unusual fatigue, and mouth ulcers. The mouth ulcers were a new symptom that I never had in the past. Something was not right. I had lost a fair amount of weight, felt incredibly weak, and was admitted to the hospital a few days before Christmas. I had blood work and bowel sample tests done. The tests for salmonella—a bacteria that can cause infection—came back negative.

The first ultrasound of my pregnancy was ordered—an exciting time for any parent-to-be, but what started out as excitement turned to panic for Andy and I when the technician experienced some difficulty finding the heartbeat. She was not able to give us much information. I was worried about our baby because I’d been so sick. My doctor assured us everything was okay, but he was puzzled as to why I was so ill. He knew from my blood work that there was