Entyvio Infusion #5 and a Weigh In

Day 15

So today was my 5th Entyvio infusion. Entyvio is the newest drug that I am on for my Crohn's Disease.....and it seems to be the one that is FINALLY working! :) YIPPEE!!! If you've followed my blog for any amount of time (or you know me in person), you know that I've been struggling for the last 3+ years with getting my Crohn's under control. It started with a flare back in 2012 while I was training for my marathon. I ignored it. It's kind of like my body let me get through the marathon and then said, Ok, I'm DONE! I ended up in the hospital for 7 days in January 2013. Remicade was started in January 2013. I stayed on that drug for 8 MONTHS before determining that it wasn't working. That took us to September 2013. After having another sigmoidoscopy that showed how inflamed I still was we decided to move on to Humira (and more steroids...again). Humira helped. It brought me to maybe 60% better and kept that status quot for a while. Because I had been so miserable for so long I was believing that maybe that was my new normal. I figured it was significantly better than what it was so it must be working.....right up until it really wasn't and I no longer felt like I was even at 60%.

It's always scary to get to that point. When I was in the hospital in 2013 the doctors there were already jumping to surgery. They couldn't get my disease under control in 7 days of IV steroids so they were talking removing my colon. That's some serious stuff! And, because I was SO miserable and in so much pain I was actually considering it. And then my mom thankfully pointed out that we hadn't tried the more potent drugs (Remicade, Humira, etc) yet so we should consider that first. Anyway, so after I tried both those drugs and was STILL not doing well (or not doing well again) in the start of 2015, I was nervous. But then my doctor told me about this new drug that was just FDA approved in June 2014. He said he felt pretty confident that it would work for me based on what he has seen so far (granted, that hadn't been a lot - he had 3 of his own patients on it). In April of this year I changed drugs yet again..for the 3rd time in less than 3 years. At my appointment today I told my doctor that I think I'm at 90%. I told him the only reason I won't say 100% is because I'm afraid I might jinx it; but this is the healthiest (Crohn's-wise) I have been in over 3 years.

Wow.

It's ABOUT FREAKIN TIME!!!!

When it comes to this disease I am a fighter. But when it comes to my healthy lifestyle I tend to fall short. Maybe it's because I have no fight left in me when I'm fighting so hard just to get through a day. But now that I don't have to fight as much to get through the day I can focus my fight on a different part of my life.



This ^^^^ has been my mantra lately. I can't listen to it enough.

"This is my fight song
Take back my life song
Prove I'm alright song
My power's turned on
(Starting right now) I'll be strong
I'll play my fight song
And I don't really care if nobody else believes
'Cause I've still got a lot of fight left in me"

Read more: Rachel Platten - Fight Song Lyrics | MetroLyrics 

And with that I am going to go get on the treadmill.

Oh yea - and weigh in this morning....down 2lbs. :)