Since today marks 23 years since I was diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease (see my medical records here), I thought this poem would be a good scan for today. It must have been a bad Crohn’s day when I wrote it, but I was trying to convince myself that there were worse diseases out there (cancer, for example?).
I’m glad to report that I feel more in control of my Crohn’s than when I wrote this. And since my diagnosis 23 years ago (when they removed 1 ½ feet of my intestines), I have not needed any more surgery and I’ve only had to be hospitalized once (in 2008).
Crohn’s
Even though I never asked,
I accepted you in my life.
You made me rot away
And I had a hospital stay,
From before Christmas
To New Year’s Day.
The scar on my side
And toxic air I can’t hide
Remind me
You are still with me.
I turn you into a joke
As much as I can,
But your embarrassing ways
Hit me now and again.
I’ll calmly sit,
Then have to race into
My office room,
Like a cat I run
Sensing immediate doom.
The laws took away
The best medicine
I had for you,
The closest I came
To convincing this relationship
Was through.
Don’t let these chronic lines
Go to your head,
You don’t even win a medal
For all the diseases
In my bed.
In some ways
You are just a result
Of all previous conditions,
Your name needs explaining
For most who will listen.
Ironically you were and are
The easiest to digest,
You may not be
The easiest to cure,
But you will never
Be the best.
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