Hi! My name is Sanjana and I was recently diagnosed with Crohn’s disease in April 2021. A fun fact about me is that I love doing art!

A challenge that I experienced with Crohn’s was when I had to get a surgery to remove a peri-rectal abscess. I had the surgery at the end of April 2021 and it took me about a week to recover. A few months passed after my discharge and everything was going fine. However, towards the end of some of my treatment periods, it seemed like the abscess was coming back.

I was feeling frustrated because it seemed that nothing I tried was helping to keep the abscess from returning. I even tried getting stricter with my diet but there was no change. So, I decided to reach out to my doctor about it. He told me it could be a super infection on my skin in that area and that the next time it happens I should tell him immediately so he can culture it and see if anything grows.

Talking to my doctor has made me feel more relaxed as it may not be entirely my fault that the abscess is returning so often. I was so quick to blame myself, and to pinpoint everything I felt I was doing wrong, when the reality is that it may not have been something I could control at all! Please don't be so quick to blame yourself without knowing the whole story!!

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