2023 was a crazy health yucky year.
And going into it wasn't any better.
It took my little sister to be diagnosed with Crohn's Disease in 2022 for us to find a better GI Doctor team down at the MacKay-Dee Hospital in Ogden, UT, in order to get my own Ulcerative colitis back on track and on a biological medication later in December. The doctors up here in Cache Valley aren't actually that great and dismissed me as "not wanting to do medications and do my own thing instead." Granted, we don't really like western medicine, but since my body is annoyingly stubborn, we literally have to asses the situation from all angles - and that means a mixture of western medicine, homeopathy, acupuncture, NAET, and Chinese medicine. Of course, between after my birthday and screeching into the new year, a whole array of health stuff exploded: my sister got a drain put in for an abscess that was being caused by the Crohn's and rode in an ambulance from her heart rate going up after chasing after our Great Dane mix who therefore got out to chase deer behind our back gate; week after that, my younger brother also rode in an ambulance after a buddy's parents' bull broke his wrist while he was getting construction supplies stuff out of the paddock that the bull was being housed in; then the stress of that caused me to go into a flare, since I tend to feed off of everyone's vibes. So, going into 2023 was full of exhaustion and waiting for the biological medication (Humira) to kick in.
So, what was the year like?
Everyday was a different day, but yet it all seemed like the same day and you don't remember what in the world you did yesterday - let alone what day of the week it actually is!
Surprisingly, I was able to volunteer down at American West Heritage Center in Wellsville.
But, even that came with a major problem.
In the middle of May, my little brother got sick with something weird and had a rash for a day. Saturday night, I had similar symptoms with throwing up and a start of a rash on my right lower leg. Come Monday morning, the rash had engulfed my whole calf, shin, and ankle; and my leg swelled up. Whatever that was, wasn't what my brother had. After going to urgent care twice (or three times?), it was concluded that it might have to do with the Ulcerative Colitis as it can sometimes cause skin ulcers as well as gut issues. It was that Wednesday I had decided to not put regular socks on (which were preventing the swelling from going into my foot). What also happened is that I couldn't get my long jeans on over my swollen leg and had to switch to summer shorts early (I'm always cold, so I will hold out until the beginning of June if I feel like it). By the time Thursday rolled around, the bottom of my foot had also swelled up that I couldn't put weight on it. So, I was semi-using my sister's crutches from when she sprained her mcl a few years prior. Then there came the Prednisone. I started off with an antibiotic that did nothing. Then a week(?) of Prednisone...that also didn't do anything. So, my GI doctor prescribed 8 weeks of Prednisone that tapered each week!!! And what happened? Two weeks away from being done, the swelling came back and the rash was looking like it would come back (thankfully, it didn't!) But all throughout the summer and most of fall, I had to wear compression socks whenever I wasn't at home for long period of time (AWHC and parades). It took me to about September to buy some basic black ones from Smith's because I was borrowing fun ones from my grandmother....which were cute, but the stitched patterns would make imprints in your skin and the sock in general was super tight to get on and off.
It gets worse.
The week before Thanksgiving was a great day! I was able to have enough energy and motivation to do some much needed things mostly because my foot/leg wasn't bothering me. Friday? My right hip started hurting for some weird reason. I just thought it was because I pulled a muscle from lifting heavy boxes (I was trying to clear out my room so that we could finish my floor....that hasn't happened yet and everything went back in once I was able again). That pain escalated and a rash appeared on my hip. We were thinking that it might be connected with what was on my leg and possibly switching to a new biological medication earlier that month. It wasn't until I woke up early Monday morning(?) - way too early for instant care to open - with huge bouts of pain and had to be taken to the ER. It ended up being probably one of the worse cases of Shingles you have ever heard of. It literally spread from midline to midline and tempted turning into cellulitis (something I have a history in). Strangely, they didn't give me Gavapectin (I know that's spelled wrong) for nerve pain. We ended up going back to instant care and asking for a prescription of it - which worked way better than what the ER doctor gave me originally. But of course, I was still in too much pain and was having lots of nausea to go to my aunt's for Thanksgiving with my family. Thankfully, the shingles just ran it's regular course - still haven't gone entirely away, but it's better now than what it was.
What about art stuff?
Well, as a result of not feeling good, my motivation in everything tanked. Granted, I was still able to do some art stuff, violin stuff (AWHC), and even attended Little Tatanka Live at the beginning of November (I'll write about that later)....but it still wasn't great. Not being able to walk or stand for longer periods of time was limiting even on the level of worrying that if I do this, my foot would do that aka swell up further. And it's not like doing something low key could remedy that. What came with the lack of motivation came discouragement and down over everything. This is when all of the days blurred together and went on repeat every day except for Wednesday when I have my sewing group.
Going into 2024?
Well, I saw on FB a video someone put together of going into 2023 is like I Love Lucy wearing a sparkling black dress, while coming out of it wearing old ratted out clothing and looking exhausted. Well, for my family going into and coming out of 2023 was basically the tail end of that video. My acupuncturist even said that he should write a doctor's note for us to have a vacation from all of the health issues!
So here's to hopefully a better year where everyone gets closer to being better health wise than on the flip side, because we've had enough of that!!
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