Kirsten Parry, a 29-year-old musician from Surrey, has been hospitalized every Christmas for the past three years due to Crohn's disease flare-ups triggered by infections. Despite her fear of getting sick during the winter, she is determined to avoid another hospital admission and create positive Christmas memories this year.
A musician who spent the last three Christmas periods in hospital on her own due to Crohn’s disease is hoping to “re-write the story” to avoid a fourth December admission this year.
Read more: ‘This might be my last Christmas – the thought my baby son might not remember me is heartbreaking’ “I just keep getting these memories and intrusive thoughts of this time a year ago, and whenever I go into the bathroom, I think, this is where I was lying on the floor, screaming. Crohn’s is a lifelong condition and, currently, there is no cure – but medicines, surgery, or a combination of both can help keep symptoms under control.
“I remember having to set them off on a task, turn my camera and microphone off, run to the toilet, come back, set them on another task, run to the toilet, come back.” Following her referral appointment in April, Kirsten said she had a colonoscopy and an MRI scan, which led to her official Crohn’s disease diagnosis on June 24 2021.
Although Kirsten’s scans showed her Crohn’s disease as being mild, she said her faecal calprotectin levels were still “through the roof” during follow-up appointments. During the following week, she said she started having “accidents during the night” and her inflammatory markers were “sky-high”, leading her to have a capsule endoscopy – a small capsule that takes pictures as it travels along your gut.
“I would say I have an intrusive, anxious thought relating to either immunosuppression or Crohn’s probably every minute,” she said.Kirsten said her Crohn’s has led to six hospital admissions in total since her diagnosis – including during the Christmas periods in 2022 and 2023.
Crohn's Disease Hospitalization Christmas Health Condition Positive Memories
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