Posts

Acronyms

Karissa Pentlichuk,  BASc, IBD, AS, HT, OTS, BLD with GA, PsO, IAE, TMD, CM When I was in university, I would dream of the educational pos…

General Medical Update

Here is the rundown and update as of Feb 2025.  I am currently 38 years old, turning 39 this August.  Diagnoses & Chronic Conditions: …

Pouchoscopy

Alright - some good-ish news.  I had my pouchoscopy today - to look in my internal J-Pouch, check on the Crohn's, and try to figure out…

Biopsy Results

My biopsy results came in today from the upper and lower scopes I had done last weekend.  There was active esophagitis and an ulcer in my e…

Esophageal Ulcer

Last week I was having major pain in my esophagus. Suspecting esophagitis (which I've had before), my family physician called in a pres…

Time & Spoon Management

Do you ever feel like most of your time is wasted being sick??  When I am going through a particularly bad spell, all I focus on is listeni…

My Moment With God

In March of 2004, I had an abdominal surgery for Inflammatory Bowel Disease, secondary to a surgery performed the year prior: after spendin…

Favourite Pleasant Surprise

Let's face it - dating with any kind of chronic illness can be incredibly difficult.  Dating with illnesses like Crohn's Disease, U…

A Malfunctioning Ship

If you haven't seen the movie Passengers, there are spoilers below.  In this movie, the ship that the passengers are traveling on start…

One-Size-Fits-All

One of the biggest myths of healthcare is a one-size-fits-all approach. We are led to believe that:  Bacterial Infection -> …

Coping With Loss of Identity

It has been ingrained in us that much of our identity comes from what we do. What we do for work, what our hobbies are, what we do …

Coping With Long Wait Times

This is a topic that was liked by multiple people to write about - and it's such an important topic:  How do you cope with …

Daily Life with IBD

What is it like to live with Inflammatory Bowel Disease (like Ulcerative Colitis or Crohn's Disease...)?  The short version…

When Do You Feel Your Best?

When do you feel your best?  I know that, for me, this can be a complicated question to answer.  The truth is, it depends on the disease an…

Dietary Update - potatoes, potatoes, potatoes

Things are starting to move in the right direction!  On November 20, 2022, I reduced to a mostly liquid and soft-food diet. Every 2-3 weeks…

Volleyball

This story is a favourite of mine - even though it is also one of my most significant pivots, and heartbreaks, in life due to illness.  Vol…

Love What Matters

This past week I was asked to write a condensed version of my health story for the website Love What Matters .  This website is dedicated …

Family Feud Perspective

Super interesting moment tonight.  We were watching Family Feud and this question came up: "How many days would you say you spend sick…

This is My #MeToo Story

Warning: this post contains details that some readers may find disturbing.  I know this is just a blog. I don't know how many people wi…

Chronic Illness Makes You Feel Like a Liar

I always feel like a liar. Not because I'm lying, but because chronic illness is so variable, unpredictable, and always changing.  For …