Crohn’s Disease and Suicide

This is a tough topic to blog about, so it’s making me  a little nervous. But it’s important. So here goes.

I was in a chat room yesterday that focuses on Crohn’s, and a woman there said her husband’s been so sick he’s been talking about suicide.

Now, I don’t know this woman and likely never will. She lives hundreds of miles from me. But I have been thinking about her constantly – no one should ever have to go through this.

Depression is common among people with Crohn’s, or so I’ve been told. They say it’s because many of your happy cells live in your gut, and when your intestines aren’t functioning properly it inherently causes problems with your mood. But beyond that, if you are so sick that you just can’t live your life anymore, it will make it seem as though life isn’t worth living.

I don’t have an answer for this woman. I wish that I did. But that’s why I wanted to write about her and her husband. What is out there for them? How can they get help? They live in a rural community too far from support groups; I think that’s why she was coming online for support. How can this family get the help they need?

Superbowl Woo!

It’s possible that yesterday was the best Superbowl Sunday of my life. We didn’t actually watch the game, but who cares!  Our friends came over with their daughter, and our two munchkins immediately bonded by putting on tutus and dancing to a CD.  The dads bonded over ribs, cooked on the outdoor grill for 5 hours. Mmm. And of course the moms hit the 20% off sale at our local yarn shop, where they also happened to be selling Girl Scout Cookies. It does not get better than that.

Image from Knitty.com

I purchased yarn to make the Knitty lunchbag.  I also bought a magazine (Knitscene) that published a new pattern by Courtney Kelley, and two balls of Kaffe Fassett designed sock yarn.

So this morning the munchkin was in a good mood, but accidentally hit herself in the head, started to cry, and then – in a pathetic little whine – asked to watch TV. (She pronounces it teeveeT.) Since she was sick last week we let her watch TV nearly every day. But this morning we said no, which made her whine more. So I hugged her close to me and said, “We can’t possibly watch TV – we can’t waste time doing that – we have to spend every moment making you feel better!” She instantly stopped crying, looked at us, smiled widely and said “I feel better!” Sigh.

Where I Injected Humira Last

Sunday, right lower thigh.

Hitchhiker

 

What a week. I’ve been so busy I haven’t even been able to post. In my rare downtime I’ve been knitting like a crazywoman, because in all honesty it’s the only thing that keeps me sane sometimes.  So, I finished one pattern I was working on, and I’m psyched about how it came out.

The pattern is called Hitchhiker, because the person who wrote it is a fan of the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy books, and this scarf has 42 points. I haven’t read the book series, but a friend of mine who has said “OH! 42! Hahahaa.” So, there you go.

Image from Barnes & Noble Website

Healthwise I’ve been feeling a little better, although my nose is still really bothering me. And I have to admit, it’s increasingly difficult to remind myself that Crohn’s just thrives off of stress. In my moments of insomnia I’m reading Zen and the Art of Knitting, and find myself reaching for a highlighter as I go through. She makes so many interesting points about how to focus on destressing. I promise to devote a post to it soon…when things slow down a bit.