Hi!
Congradulations first of all. Second, I,like you,was diagnosed with Crohn's at age 10. I just recently turned 40. I was the youngest person in our area to be diagnosed with this and it wasn't until 3 years after my first surgery. I was origanally thought to have a burst appendix and when exploratory surgery revealed appendix was fine(it was removed anyway), the surgeons found what they thought were polyps. 18 inches of my small intestine was removed. 3 years later, i was hospitalized for anorexia nervosa and being intraveinously and force fed. I dropped half my body weight during the summer between 9th and 10th grade. I was 90 lbs starting high school. Absolutely no one believed who I was. The anorexia was misdianosed and after extensive testing, I finally was told it was Crohn's. I missed most of my 10th grade year.
My treatment consisted mainly of the drugs Azulfidine,Prednisone,Flagyl and other various antibiotics. Drs. did not know much on how to treat such a young person with Crohn's so much of it was trial and error.
A couple years after high school, I got married. Crohn's had flared up and done a lot of damage to my insides. I've had fistulas from my small intestine to every organ but my lungs,heart and those above chest. I had to have my right side ovary and fallopian tube removed due to extensive damage(tubes and ovaries were switched places with kidneys). I was told that I would never be able to get pregnant(chances were less than one percent of conceiving) and could not carry a child to full term if I did. One year after the partial hysterectomy, I thought the Crohn's was flaring up and was put back on Azulfidine and Prednisone. An ultrasound revealed I was pregnant. The drs. kept me on the meds during the pregnancy at low doses and I was checked on twice a week. My due date was Nov. 4,1991. My son arrived Dec. 1rst. Although he was only 6lbs and 13 oz, I required a lot of stitching back together. My ob-g said that my insides had not fully matured so it was like a 10 year giving birth to a bowling ball. Everything else went pretty good. 17 months later, I had a baby girl. Due to the damage from my son's birth, she was a planned c-section, weighing 5lbs and 7 oz. Both pregnancies I was taking the medications.
My children are now 17 and 15. The meds I was taking did affect their permanent teeth development. They both have a slight yellow tint that the dentist attributted to the sulfa drugs and bleaching will not help. The kids understand and have been a God send for me. I now have a total hysterectomy(not even the cervix is left,thank goodness no more paps!) and have had permanent colostomy. The next time I have to have surgery, will probably be my last, as I have only a few feet of intestines left.
My kids are proof that even though impossible odds are hard to beat, that less than 1 percent is there. By the way, both of my kids taller than me now.Matthew is 17 and 6'3". Elizabeth is 15 and 5'7". I am 5'4". There dad is 5'6"(we're divorced now). I wish you all the luck in the world, blessings of good health and hopes of a wonderful future.