Five Chronic Illness Lessons I Have Learned.

Paula — Tue, 19 Jan 2021 11:08:00 +0000

Lately I have been thinking a lot about how having a childhood illness shaped me, as a person, as a teen and an adult. I’ve asked myself often what, if any chronic illness lessons, I got out of that experience. Some of you know I have Crohn’s disease, an inflammatory bowel disease, also now thought to be an autoimmune disease, without a known cause or cure. I was diagnosed at 14 after a period of months when pounds melted off my frame faster than you can even imagine. My abdomen hurt all of the time, as in so much cramping that I thought I would pass out. Sometimes I still get that pain, which comes out of nowhere and blindsides me. Crohn’s Disease Symptoms There were more symptoms of course, like chronic diarrhea, bloody stools and vomiting. Weight loss, exhaustion. Inability to eat. Anemia, cramps and more. There is nothing pretty about Crohn’s disease, not that any disease is pretty, but bowel disease can be particularly gross. The year of my diagnosis I spent a zillion hours in bathrooms all over Guelph, Toronto, Collingwood and Wasaga Beach. Then I spent weeks in and out of hospitals and emergency rooms. Here’s How Crohn’s disease Changed Me Listen, having Crohn’s sucks. There’s no need to mince words. Missing weeks of school and being in hospital a dozen times in your teens is not fun. Nor is it a path anyone would choose on purpose. There’s nothing redeeming about having your body opened up over ten times to remove bits, like large sections of gut, repeatedly. Also, it feels awful missing out on life when you are too sick to be out of hospital or out working. Missing school and being in hospital for birthdays, Christmases and other holidays is a hard pill to swallow. Relearning Reconfiguring all the systems so that you can walk and eat and function again outside a hospital. Relearning how to do everything and stopping and starting school, or jobs over and over, sucks, period. Society has a lot more to do in order to build equality and support for people with disabilities. But I think that’s another post entirely. It is dead exhausting and it hurts, both physically and mentally. But at the same time, now two decades after all of the surgeries and diagnosis, I have enough distance from that initial round of brutal treatment and surgery to recognize how this changed me dramatically as a human. Five Chronic Illness Lessons Resilience Having Crohn’s oddly shaped me into a resilient person. How did it do that? How did having a chronic incurable illness make me resilient? In a nutshell, I know I am a survivor. Listen, when your abdomen has been opened up and parts removed and you are expected to stand the next day and walk around the room so your body begins to heal, or you need to resume eating after your gut has been attacking you internally for months, and you do it, you know you have got this. Acute flares of Crohn’s followed by long hospital stays and seemingly barbaric treatments, simply showed me I was resilient. Maybe that was the lesson. Bright Side Somehow, I still always look for the bright side. If I didn’t, I’d wallow in self pity and pain far too many days. So, there is a bright side, in my opinion, to this story. But here’s the thing. Lately, when I pause to reflect on how that experience shaped my life I think well there was some good that came out of that pain and this horrible digestive disease. And there’s typically always a positive. You might need to dig for it, but it’s there. I’m an Advocate I didn’t have a voice for years in the health care system as a child. Instead, I blindly accepted what doctors told me. Now, I know the questions to ask and how to ask them. In fact, I found my voice late in my journey. While I’d love to tell you it was some big internal aha moment, it was actually a new young surgeon who spoke to me as an equal in my mid to late 20s and engaged me as a patient. That simple approach pulled me out of the passive state. Sometimes it makes me nuts thinking how many doctors and surgeons were completely ableist and patronizing prior to that one experience. By the way, he still practices here in London Ontario. His patients are blessed to have him. The Lesson The chronic illness lesson there was speak up, educate yourself on your condition or illness and ask the right questions. Don’t be afraid to seek second opinions and ask about the medication side effects. As so many people on TikTok say: You ARE THE MAIN CHARACTER. Adoption I adopted my children and likely wouldn’t have otherwise. Had I not struggled with a chronic illness, pain and Crohn’s disease, I probably never would have sought out domestic adoption as the means to becoming a parent. True story. Adoption is such a rewarding way to start a family, but it is also often not the standard or first choice. The love I have for my family is immense and overwhelming and I would never ever change my family. My kids are amazing and they teach me new facts and skills every single day. The adoption community I have found is such an incredibly supportive and diverse resourceful group of parents. So very grateful that my path led us here. I wrote about Parenting and Crohn’s disease for CBC Parents in early 2020. Read that post here – > https://www.cbc.ca/parents/learning/view/im-a-parent-with-crohns-disease-heres-how-thats-worked-out-for-me Strength This could be related to optimism and resilience, but it is a lesson that I hold close. I know I am strong. There’s little else that matters really. Like, for instance, I can do hard things. Physically, I know I am capable of doing the heavy emotional lifting even in times of crisis and that I will get through whatever comes my way. Life is All About Learning Every person, every experience, is a lesson or a gift. While it might not seem like it at the time and it’s often excruciatingly hard to fight your way through the dark times, having a childhood illness can sometimes just show you who you are. That’s a huge gift, especially when so many others spend lifetimes trying to explore that very concept.

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Seven Road Trip Necessities This Canada Day #ChurchandDwight

Paula — Tue, 21 Jun 2016 00:11:50 +0000

Road trip season has begun in earnest around here, so I am stocking up on a few road trip necessities. Car and van trips can be equal parts fun and chaos. Stack the deck in favour of fun and be prepared for anything with these popular brands. This past weekend we headed to Muskoka and the Huntsville area for a weekend away at Ontario Pioneer Camp Blogger’s Weekend. We have several more road trips and plane trips in the works this season and I am looking forward to each one. BUT, I am also preparing for each because road trips with kids can sometimes equal chaos and upset stomachs. A couple of years ago we had a road trip that was incredibly unpleasant. One daughter had some sort of upset with her stomach. Not really sure what happened there. But the second we hopped in the van for the drive through Toronto she got car sick. Luckily we eventually met up with a bus full of bloggers and a Mama blogger took one look at my green girl and broke out the children’s chewable Gravol. Gravol is one of our most important summer road trip necessities here. That one trip and endless car sick experience made a Gravol fan out of this Mom. Canada Day kicks cottage season into high gear. That means family gatherings, fireworks and cross-country road trips. There are a lot of things that can leave children feeling sick. Here are my seven road trip necessities (and they are also made in Canada.) Gravol™ Gravol™ is part of our medicine cabinet arsenal. For children who suffer from car sickness (or too many turns on the merry-go-round), this fits the bill: GRAVOL™Kids™ Quick Dissolve Chewables. These great tasting cherry-flavoured tablets offer the best in convenience and portability, eliminating the need to take with water. That makes these ideal for road trips and plane trips too. These are great for treatment of nausea, vomiting and dizziness due to motion sickness. Gravol™ Quick Dissolve Chewables comes in a version for adults too in great-tasting zesty orange-flavour. Prefer organic relief? GRAVOL™ Natural Source™ Ginger Liquid Gel Capsules are a Natural Health Product made with naturally sourced certified organic Ginger (the only medical ingredient) for the prevention and treatment of nausea and vomiting. GRAVOL™ Natural Source™ Ginger Liquid Gel capsules are taste free, easy to swallow, and non-drowsy. I use these ones myself. I find they are just right for me and they don’t make me drowsy. With a good Canadian Gingerale sometimes that’s all I need to stop churning stomach after food that doesn’t agree with me. Ovol™ – Ovol™ helps to relieve one of the most embarrassing (and painful) stomach problems – gas! Ovol™ Ultra Strength Softgels work quickly to break down trapped gas in the stomach and intestines. It helps gas bubbles fuse together making them easier to get rid of through belching or flatulence. To relieve a baby’s gassy tummy, Ovol™ Drops provide gentle and fast relief of colic, bloating and gas. The pleasant mint-flavoured drops make them easy for parents to administer. If you have a baby you should have some of these on hand. Diovol™ Nothing more predictable for me than heartburn after a big meal. Diovol™ Liquid Plus Mint helps cut the heartburn. Diovol™ Tablets Plus Tropical Fruit work well for those who don’t like the mint taste of Diovol Liquid Plus Mint. Diovol doesn’t stop the body from its naturally producing acid – it reacts to neutralize or buffer excess stomach acid. Road Trip Necessities: Summer Road Trips don’t have to be a pain in the neck. They can be fun for everyone as long as you keep a few road trip necessities on hand for emergencies. What are your tried and true ‘Made in Canada’ products that you rely on in summer? I am part of the Church and Dwight Blog Ambassador team and as such I received compensation and a few other perks. My opinion is all my own and it is also 100% truthful.

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Five Chronic Illness Lessons I Have Learned.

Seven Road Trip Necessities This Canada Day #ChurchandDwight