First time RNY has held me back

Your son has Crohn's?  So does my daughter.  She has had to miss out on a lot of things, too.  She had her colon removed at 16, so her dream of the military went right out the window. 

Sorry, wasn't trying to hijack the thread. 

Senior year of high school, May 2010, my son had about 16 cm of his intestine, 10% of his colon and his appendix removed.  Thank g-d he's doing well now, but he's still on remicade to keep it from coming back.  My younger son (16) has Crohn's too, but he's managing with meds right now.  Sucks, doesn't it?

My daughter had her entire large intestine removed and had to wear an illiostomy bag.  They have attached her small intestine to her rectum now, so no more bag, but she has issues.  I remember the days of Remicade.  We had to take her to get transfusions every month. 

She was misdiagnosed for a year before they figured out what the problem was.  By that time, she was bedridden, unable to hold down any food and mostly unconscious.  I was in the process of getting approved for my Kaiser coverage (I was working two jobs).  I called them and begged them to pu**** though.  They did.  I took her the nearest hospital and waited for the helicopter.  It happened to be the same hospital that sent her home just 2 months earlier saying that she had hemorrhoids.  The same ER doctor was there (the man who sent her home with the Preparation H).  He pulled me aside and gave me a grief packet saying that I needed to prepare myself.  He ALSO said (not remembering her) that if I had just caught it earlier, she wouldn't be in this kind of shape.  I flipped out.  I had to be removed from the hospital for a "time out".   As it turned out, she had leaked most of the liquid I had forced her to drink (as well as a LOT of blood) directly into her body cavity.  She was in PICU for a month.  Her veins had all collapsed and she had to have pic lines.  She was on so many steroids that she ballooned up to about 350 lbs.  Her skin stretched to it's limit.. she is covered in stretch marks from neck to wrists to toes.  (She wore capris out in public last year and a little boy asked her why she had "dead people skin" on her legs).   

Thank God she doesn't remember any of the PICU time.  She is still not in perfect shape, but I am so grateful that she's alive!!  She's a miracle. 

OMG, I'm so sorry you and she had to go through all that.  WHAT a nightmare.  I think docs are recognizing it a lot sooner now.  There's a lot more awareness I hope out there.  It took us 6 months for my younger son to get diagnosed, but all he had was  fever so we were looking for an infection.  Two months after he was diagnosed, my older son came down with severe stomach aches and was diagnosed within 2 weeks with a colonscopy.  Took us another year to get the meds right for my younger son.  He wasn't absorbing and hadn't started growing.  2nd shortest kid to start high school and puberty no where in sight.  He's doing much better and growing now.  Meds didn't work for my older so he had surgery.

HUGS to you and your daughter.  Glad she's doing better now. 

Jan

You could work in a civil service position and serve and travel with DoD.  You would still be able to serve overseas, and in close proximity to military serving in the "field".  Try a path you never thought you would go down. I bet you can find an adventure that will be just as satisfying.

I'm sorry you're disappointed and it does suck that you get healthy and can't do something like that! Our nutritional, hydration and supplementation needs are something they can't guarantee they'll be able to meet, especially with deployment and such! Maybe working a civilian type job for them would be something you're interested in?