LOOP Blog

Traveling can be fun, stressful, or both. As an aviation geek, I love nothing more than to stand in the airport looking at those beautiful birds outside, to say nothing of actually getting into one and flying away. However, IBD can make the travel experience more challenging than it already is. I’ve traveled quite a bit in my time, so allow me to walk you through my process of air travel with IBD, from planning the trip to arriving at my final destination.

Oh, the dreaded d-word. Typically, I can't say I depend on US Government documents for my definitions, but I feel like this is one of those situations where I can. Per various acts, written over many, many decades, a "disability" is frequently referred to as something that is a physical and mental impairment that substantially limits one or more 'major life activities’. So, with that definition in mind, as offices on college campuses around the country change their names from "disability office" to "accessibility office," I'm left wondering what it is they're trying to achieve, and why so many people are scared of being classified as having a "disability."

My name is Chloe and I’m 18 years old. I graduated high school in June, and currently work as a cashier. I was diagnosed with UC at age 13.

The ImproveCareNow Registry is a treasure trove of information about patients living with IBD. But, data, like Amazon gift cards, are worthless unless used. And it takes some intrepid, or at least good-with-numbers, Indiana Jones-type researchers to plunge into the depths of the jumble of figures – to put the data to work to answer questions.

My name is Lexa, and I'm 17 years old. I'm currently in high school and I love to travel. I was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis (pancolitis) in April this past year.

My name is Mia and I’m 14. I was just diagnosed with ulcerative colitis right as my first year of high school began. One interesting fact that most people don’t know about me is that I love simply spending a day in the city!

Watching my mother in tears through the glass window panel, I felt pain. Feeling the wires stuck to my chest, I felt cold. Hearing the heart rate monitor race rapidly, I felt scared. Listening to the anesthesiologist who told me to close my eyes, I felt my worries drift away. I awoke in confusion as I was rolled back to the children’s ward of the hospital in a stretcher. The white walls, patients, and doctors blurred into one as I tried to fight off sleep, but it easily won. After hours of sleeping, I awoke to the sound of the doctor’s knocking. He took a seat at the end of my bed and stared into my eyes with a mixture of compassion and sadness. I anxiously waited for him to speak the words that would change my life forever.

Last Wednesday, I sat down armed with coffee and snacks and dialed in to the 2^nd ever ImproveCareNow Virtual Community Conference—a web-based, narrated “tour” of the ImproveCareNow community. I knew I was settling in for a long time at my desk (it was, after all, a four-hour webinar), but I was excited to be able to host the event. And truly, the lion’s share of the work—people teaching and learning together—was led by a wonderful group of ImproveCareNow Community members including clinicians, patients, parents & researchers. How amazing that sitting at my desk in Wisconsin, I was able to listen to specific stories about how care is being improved TODAY for kids with IBD in North Carolina, Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, and well beyond.

I read online somewhere that the best way to describe Crohn’s disease is that it feels like slashing open your intestines with a chainsaw. I can really relate to that post. You see, I’ve had refractory Crohn’s for eight years, which means my disease doesn’t respond to anti-TNF medications, and that significantly limits my treatment options. And that leads me to my most recent Crohn’s adventure. It all started on a Thursday in late February. After trying and failing Entyvio, my doctor was running out of ideas. He recommended I go to another IBD clinic with more experience treating complex cases like mine - to see if they had any ideas about what I could try next.

Twice-yearly ImproveCareNow Virtual Community Conferences seek to connect and grow our widely distributed and diverse community in pursuit of our purpose to improve health and care for all children and youth with Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. We invite all people wishing to learn more about and get involved with ImproveCareNow to join us on October 11 between 4 and 8pm ET for our Fall 2017 Virtual Community Conference. Read more to see the agenda for this event. 

RSVP now and join our Fall 2017 Virtual Community Conference