bad news
Catherine and I went to the doctor's office yesterday. We were glad all over again for the apprenticeship model of the place we go: one main doctor in charge, who's a master in his field, and then several other young docs fresh out of school with new learning in their heads. They switch in and out, trading patients and duties, and then move on to whatever is next in their career. Meanwhile, the master doctor, Schenker, stays there providing age and wisdom and continuity.
Catherine's on her third GI doctor, named Rosencrantz, whom we met today. She's friendly and knowledgeable, and speaks in a rich voice with an eastern European accent. In looking over Catherine's most recent developments, she came to the conclusion, which other doctors had ruled out and then reopened and ruled out and reopened, that Catherine has Crohn's disease. Dr Schenker agreed.
The latest evidence clinched it. As part of her 30-hour schlump in the emergency room last week, Catherine had several tests done — scans, MRIs, X-rays. They showed undeniable evidence of bad activity in the rest of Catherine's colon and all along her gastro-intestinal tract starting right from her mouth on down.
The symptoms of ulcerative colitis and Crohn's are very similar — they're sister diseases — and the treatments are similar too. In fact, we're not making any change at all in Catherine's daily handful of pills. We're simply going to have a new menu of tests over the next while. The real difference is one of degree. Crohn's is a more drastic disease than UC, less containable, and with a more distinct telos. So. For now, at least, that's how things look. We've already swung into the process that's become more familiar to us than comfortable: scrolling through websites, becoming experts, learning the terminology, checking one body of knowledge against another, crying, praying, holding each other.
Catherine's on her third GI doctor, named Rosencrantz, whom we met today. She's friendly and knowledgeable, and speaks in a rich voice with an eastern European accent. In looking over Catherine's most recent developments, she came to the conclusion, which other doctors had ruled out and then reopened and ruled out and reopened, that Catherine has Crohn's disease. Dr Schenker agreed.
The latest evidence clinched it. As part of her 30-hour schlump in the emergency room last week, Catherine had several tests done — scans, MRIs, X-rays. They showed undeniable evidence of bad activity in the rest of Catherine's colon and all along her gastro-intestinal tract starting right from her mouth on down.
The symptoms of ulcerative colitis and Crohn's are very similar — they're sister diseases — and the treatments are similar too. In fact, we're not making any change at all in Catherine's daily handful of pills. We're simply going to have a new menu of tests over the next while. The real difference is one of degree. Crohn's is a more drastic disease than UC, less containable, and with a more distinct telos. So. For now, at least, that's how things look. We've already swung into the process that's become more familiar to us than comfortable: scrolling through websites, becoming experts, learning the terminology, checking one body of knowledge against another, crying, praying, holding each other.
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