Welcome Back

Sometimes I’m convinced that I’ve mastered the skill of irony. 

Monday night was the floor meeting for my floor (let me just mention that it’s Pokemon themed, take it as you will) and I asked my RA if I could speak with her afterwards. I told her that I have Crohn’s and an ostomy and mentioned my blockages as an FYI in case I needed to escape to the ER in the middle of the night. She was very nice about it and told me to call her when it happened.

Midnight: Blockage becomes fully apparent to me. Nausea, pain, exhaustion. Call home to tell my Mom. We agree that I should try to wait for a bit and go in the morning.

1:30 AM: All ostomy output stops. Pain super intense. I sprung from the bed, got dressed, packed my bag, and called my RA.

2 AM: Arrive at Emergency Room.

4 AM: In a room, finally have an IV lodged in my left hand. 

I sat in my room, staring at the clock, only thinking about first day of classes that I was going to miss in a matter of hours. I was flooded with medications and virtually catatonic but finally a little more comfortable than a few hours earlier. 

16 hours after my blockage began, the fluids and pain medications fully in my system, I was feeling better and ready to run from my hospital bed and get back to campus. I was finally discharged (better than my planning of yanking my IV) and was in a cab back to the dorm. It was around the same time that I had left for the ER that I was returning to my room, it felt like a day had just been subtracted from my life. 

Isn’t it ironic that I told my RA about my blockages and then I’d get one a couple of hours later? Isn’t it ironic that I spent the first day of classes in a hospital bed? Apparently it’s my official welcome back to college.

And even though it’s a bumpy start, it’s the start to my year. Of course I’m nervous about how my health will pan out, but it’s so nice to be back on campus, running on the Esplanade and back with my friends. 

But however ironic or sad or funny or ridiculous, it’s my life, and my welcome back to campus. Junior year - watch out, here I come. 

Jennie