A Life Interrupted!

Why was she losing weight? Why was she fading from us? We thought: maybe she just wants to slim down like most girls who feel they are too big. She was not a big person. She was always quite fit and exercised regularly. She was the five-year badminton champion and a member of the national team. Here was a girl who was very vibrant, full of life, and involved in community. She found new ways of providing tutoring to those who were struggling in Math while assisting with the local youth group at the Church. The pain ravaged her body and played on her mind.
The weight continued to fall off. She began to experience pain and cramps that pierced her body. We could hear her moaning and sobbing quietly in the night. These times were her worst. The pain invaded her step as well as her mannerisms. There were times when she sat, legs crossed, rubbing her belly, clothed in several layers just to keep warm. Her weakness made it difficult to digest most foods. After vomiting or feeling unable to swallow, she would lie next to our mother and have her rub her back and stomach. Our mother became a human blanket of comfort for her. She rarely ate heavy food, and her plate contained smaller and smaller portions. Doctors weaned her off beef, red meats, and milk products. Her bones began to protrude and her face became quite lean. Sadness and despair made her question the doctors and their inability to give a diagnosis.
It was hard to watch her wither away as her body fell into itself and she became unrecognizable. We did not know what to do. She was drained of energy, and found it difficult to complete simple activities. She attended classes in spite of the agony. The days and nights became one. Travelling to university and back was hard and with little energy, the time in classes was an eternity, and she struggled to maintain the pace. Her illness took a toll on the whole family. We felt hopeless and scared, and became upset with the doctors and their lack of information. Many nights we cried. Silently we prayed for someone to help her. We could see the stress on our parents’ faces that had grown old under the strain. We feared we would lose our sister.
Finally, the day came when the sobbing became louder and pain unbearable. She had difficulty walking. We did not know what to do. We felt the doctors were powerless to help. The emergency room was our only hope. Our patience was thin; as we waited for the results. Time stretched out in front of us as our sister slowly vanished. A healthy young girl at the age of 25, who once weighed 105, was now down to 75 pounds and slipping away.
The time came when we could not wait for the doctor. We called our brother-in-law and sister to assist us with carrying her fragile body into the car and they immediately took her to the hospital. Although the doctors in emergency had sent her home before, she still found the emergency room to be a place of comfort. This time they admitted her. After several operations, she was diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease, an inflammatory bowel disease of the intestines. Our sister finally had her diagnosis, but by this time, the disease was killing her spirit. Her recovery was long. She was placed in semi-isolation. One of her legs is swollen twice it’s size under with blood clots.
Something was terribly wrong. She was placed on Warfarin, an anticoagulant, to help thin her blood, but it had side effects. After she was taken out of isolation and the clots were under control, my sister’s second home became the hospital ward 9b. She was there for three months. If not for the Dartmouth surgeon who performed a partial ileostomy, my sister might not be where she is today. Now, my sister is drug free and lives a healthy life.
Before she left the hospital, she made a plaque for the nurses with all their names on it. The plaque still hangs in 9b and is a testament to the care she received.