Crohn's Chronicles: A blog about Crohn's Disease

I'm going a little off script today. The official prompt is to name a mascot, and I think we all know that I would just spend another post talking about Myrtle. (Because she's pretty much my mascot already.) I've done that a lot recently, though, and what I have to say today is something new. So, strap in. After writing my Gloria Steinem post yesterday, I've been thinking even more about the importance of names. I've also been thinking about one specific name that we in the Crohn's community often use to describe ourselves.  Crohnie.

It's Health Activist Choice Day again. So, what do I want to say? Well, there's this post I've been trying to write for a while now, but can't really seem to get a grasp on what it actually is. So, what I'm going to do is just force myself to write about it, and hopefully I turn out something worth posting. Let's see what happens. If you follow me on twitter and/or facebook, you probably read at least one of my (many, many) posts about my getting to meet Gloria Steinem. It was a pretty amazing day. I got to attend both an informal Q&A and then a more formal lecture later in the day. I was lucky enough to ask her a question in each setting. In response to my first question she told me to believe in myself. I mean, it's not a big deal or anything. ...Okay, she was telling all of the young feminists in the room, but she was looking right at me when she said it. And let me tell you, when your idol looks you right in the face and tells you to believe i...

Introducing: Crohnicure! The amazing new cure for Crohn's Disease! ...Nope. I can't do it. I can't make up a cure for Crohn's. However I try to write the next sentence of this announcement, it always ends up way too snarky to be made public. The thing is, we aren't even sure what causes Crohn's. Sure, there's a lot of speculation out there, but nothing certain. I know I have a gene that caused mine, but the rate of disease in my family has increased dramatically and we have little clue as to why. We just don't know that much about the disease. And, honestly, I don't care to talk about finding a cure too much. I think I've said this before. There are a lot of people out there devoting time and resources to finding a cure and they're doing a lot better job than I ever could. I feel like my place is to talk about the bodily, emotional and cultural impact of Crohn's. I have something to contribute to that conversation.