After I had my colonoscopy, my doctor knew that my Crohn's was active again. He could see it, and so could I, on the images he gave me {isn't that a fun keepsake? take-home photos of your colonoscopy haha}. But they still do biopsies and send off samples for lab confirmation.
Labs came back, and they confirmed active Crohn's inflammation. Again, something I already knew, but having the labs to back it up makes it feel more real, for some reason. Since I monitor my diet and lifestyle, we know that the return of my symptoms is because Humira has stopped working for me.
So I took my last dose of Humira on July 8th. It's not doing anything, but I didn't get the confirmation to stop taking it until the day after I took my last dose. So I have officially ended my journey with Humira. In a strange, medically-twisted way, it's bittersweet. I am definitely glad to say goodbye to every-other-week injections. I took 196 total shots over 7.5 years. I cursed every time for 6.5 of those years {until I finally got some relief in the past year with the citrate-free version!} I had 2 pen misfires in the whole 7.5 years, which is not too shabby.
But I am so thankful for how it helped me achieve and stay in remission for so long. I never loved being on a synthetic, biologic drug, but the reality is that it helped me stay healthy. It worked for me, the first time. And that's a big deal in Crohn's treatment.
So long, Humira!
So what's next?
I have a follow-up with my GI next week. I start my new medication the week after that {more on that later, as I'm still learning and figuring it out!} And I will continue taking the prednisone to get the inflammation under control. I have 2.5 more weeks left for that and would appreciate prayers in that process. The side effects have been rough. I feel pretty yucky these days, but I have to keep reminding myself that I am not in any pain. That's a big deal! But it's still something I have to remind myself of over and over, because I am not loving how my body is currently feeling. Aside from the gross {and weird} side effects, I'm back to feeling completely depleted by the end of the day. I do ok until about 2pm, where I seem to just hit a wall and feel my body starting to crash. It's a struggle to make it to the end of the day, and I'm crawling into bed pretty soon after the kids are in bed.
I have been thinking a lot about the timing of my symptoms returning. On one hand, it feels like just another blow from 2020 in the midst of crazy life circumstances and this crazy pandemic. But then I remember the Spirit's prompting to do all of our embryo transfers quickly. Part of the reason we had Aiden so close to the twins was because we knew my health was not guaranteed, and I wouldn't have been able to do a transfer if my disease was active. Being pregnant actually helps keep Crohn's in check, so it's possible I could have flared sooner, right about the time I would have normally planned to space out my kids. And that would have been really hard, knowing that we had to stop doing transfers, knowing that we had frozen embryos still waiting for us...
So I see the Lord's provision in allowing us to be done having our babies before my symptoms came back. What a precious gift. And a gracious reminder on the hard days, when I wonder why on earth I ever willingly subjected myself to 3 babies under 2 :)
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