Jacy's Story

I became sick with ulcerative colitis (UC) when I was 18 years old. I started nursing school in Fall of 1980. The stress of nursing school does not help UC.

In the early Spring of 1982, I was having 7-8 bowel movements a day, that were close to being pure blood. I remember one time making a mess in my pants at the hospital, and had to go home. (That was before the ostomy!) By Fall of 1982, I was sickly thin, and had to have blood transfusions for blood loss from the UC.

In November of 1982, my UC turned into toxic megacolon, a life threatening condition. My ileostomy surgery was an emergency type. I didn't have alot of time to prepare ahead of time. I was so sick, that they only made my ileostomy, and had to wait until later to take out the rest of my large bowel.

I was in ICU for a week after the first surgery which was 2 days before Thanksgiving, I had a pinhole gastric (stomach) ulcer that perforated. That started another 3 or 4 months of almost continuous hospitalizations. I had numerous pockets of infection in my abdominal cavity. In the midst of all of that, I developed a swollen lymph node on the left side of my neck that turned out to be Hodgkin's disease. They took my spleen out to "stage" my Hodgkin's. I had radiation therapy on my neck for about 6 weeks. After finally getting back to nursing school, and what I was re-learning to believe was a "normal" life (with an ileostomy), the Hodgkin's disease recurred in my lungs. I then had yet another operation on my left lung, and put off nursing school for another 6 months. I started a year long trek of chemotherapy; the second 6 months facing the fact that I may lose all of my hair, temporarily, at age 22. The thought of that was worse than my ileostomy.

I made it through the chemo, didn't lose my hair enough to wear the wig I had bought, and now I am a Registered Nurse. When I say to my patients, "been-there, done-that", I do honestly mean it. I can, and will, help anyone who needs it. That is one of the reasons the Lord saved my life that night. The other one, I just discovered about 6 years ago, to be an advocate against racism.

Please check out my homepage at Talk City: http://home.talkcity.com/RainbowCt/nursetatanka/index.html

You may also email me at jcpierce@hamilton.net

I am here to help!!!

JacyP.

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