So here I am back again at Westmead Hospital. It sure has been a crazy past few months, the stress of my father's arrest has had a huge impact on my health which is why I think my Crohn’s flared up again. That and I no longer had any access to medical cannabis. It’s not all bad news though, the result of the arrest and my family going public has connected us with so many amazing people. We have a meeting coming up soon with our Blue Mountains state MP, Trish Doyle, to discuss our situation and how she can help. Getting politicians on our side is so important because they are the ones who ultimately have the power in the legalisation process. Trish has been very supportive and sympathetic towards our family and I’m very excited to have her support.
I heard a story today from a friend of mine I met through the cannabis community. She has Crohn’s disease and uses cannabis to stay alive and healthy. As she dropped her daughter off at school she was pulled over by a police officer. He asked her if she had any alcohol in her system to which she replied no, he then asked if she had any drugs including cannabis in her system. She didn’t want to lie so she said this:
"Yes I take cannabis for my Crohn’s disease as it’s the only thing keeping me alive."
The policeman replied, “You're aware that if you test positive you will lose your license?”
He went to his car and when he came back he told her to have a nice day and that was that. It’s stories like that which give me faith in this movement and what we are fighting for. It’s obvious there is a huge amount of people in support of this cause, so why are people like my family still being prosecuted?
I decided to come back to hospital last week when I could no longer handle the symptoms of my flare. I can pin point the day I started getting sick again. The police raid was absolutely terrifying, I was so scared I started throwing up which is something that has never happened to me before. Stress has a huge impact on the human body and can actually cause disease. It’s not all bad though, as I have a new team of doctors who are incredible and I can’t believe how much they are helping me. My new gastroenterologist is caring and understanding and in support of my cannabis use which is fantastic.
It wouldn’t be a stay at Westmead hospital without some hilarious stories. On my second day here I heard some wailing down the hall, and I kid you not I thought it was a Stephen Tyler impersonator, if they started singing Walk This Way I probably wouldn’t have been able to tell the difference. The wailing continued…and continued. Turns out it was a lady with dementia so I’m definitely going to hell for rocking out to her noise.
My dietician came to see me and said she was really happy with my improved appetite and how much I am eating but to maybe slow down because I had something called re-feeding syndrome. This happens when someone is malnourished and then suddenly starts eating again which causes your electrolytes to go out of whack. She didn’t seem to be too worried about it and neither was I until I went on Web MD….. I don’t recommend you do this when you have a chronic illness. The first sentence I see is “re-feeding syndrome can be potentially fatal causing cardiac arrest or even organ failure” Well SHIT. Great, I thought I’m going to die from eating too much food. This is just fantastic. I decided my tomb stone shall say “died doing what she loves and with a full stomach”.
I was freaking out so bad I asked to speak to the on call Dr who came and eased my mind. He said that I was reading about the worst case scenario and if my doctors weren’t too worried that neither should I be. I still asked for an ECG to check I wasn’t going to have a heart attack but he just laughed and said it wasn’t necessary. Okay, so maybe I was over reacting just a little. SERIOUSLY, GUYS DON'T GOOGLE YOUR SYMPTOMS, I bet Web MD is the bane of doctors' existence.
My anxiety obviously settled down because an hour later I crossed the road and got a Subway sandwich cause YOLO, guys. I probably looked like a loony person and I was getting some weird looks as I crossed the road with my IV pole in the pursuit of happiness (aka Subway). As I was crossing the street a man gave me a look and said “you breaking free?” “Yeah, I’m not eating that damn hospital food!”. Crohn’s can knock me down but I’ll get back up again….very slowly because I have no muscle in my string bean legs at the moment. You get the point, I’m trying to be inspirational here.
Just another day in my crazy life 😜
The Power Of Me 