My mom will be posting once a week throughout February, so enjoy this post written by Karen Brocker as she writes what it is like to be the mother of a daughter with a not so normal life.
Crohns is a mean disease. It is often unpredictable and can strike quickly in its many manifestations. We have lived with it long enough that I’ve come to recognize my “I’ve taken a hit” syndrome. It usually occurs when Sarah’s body expresses a new kind of pain or condition for her to endure. It HITS out of the blue and then I am knocked down for the count. Like when she started getting migraines and I thought “Really? She already has severe nausea, abdominal pain, diarrhea and a fast heart rate…. And NOW we are adding migraines!?
We eventually added a neurologist to her list of doctors and new meds to treat her headaches. But I had been hit- and was hurting emotionally. I usually go thru a gambit of emotions including anger, depression and denial. I cry. I pray. I talk with friends. I eat chocolate. And sometimes I just go to bed. Eventually, I get back up again, having finally made mental space for the new reality of her illness and what she has to deal with in her not so normal life.