Well, every parents nightmare. I sent my son off to Medical School in St Kitts and as soon as he got there he got sick, ended up in the hosptial ( I'm here he is there ). I just knew when he told me he lost 15 lbs in a week.....Doctor told him they found blood in his stool and with my history-lol-he has to come back. He can't eat, vomiting, mucous in stool, fatigue-sound familiar. I just hope my doctors office sees him in a timely fashion. I hate to stick him from plane to ER. I'll keep you all posted.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: AllyKat,

I am so sorry to hear this. I will pray for you and your son. Please keep us posted as to how he makes out.

NOT FAIR!
Poor kid...I hope for your and his sake that it isn't what you think it is...and that he just picked up a nasty bug....
Sharon

I'm praying for you both and that he makes it home safely. I think all doctor's have time set aside for paitents that need to be seen right away.

Oh I am so sorry!! Damn, I worry about this all the time with my kids. I have a bad family history of UC. Sending many prayers your way....

I know, all of us parents worry about the passing of this along to our kids. Even if it does come to be, your son may be one of those people who responds beautifully to meds and maintains control and remission. But you're not there, yet, and maybe like Sharon said it's just a nasty bug. Will be sending positive vibes your way.

I feel your pain. Hopefully, your son will be responsive to medical management,as my college age son was. Mine was diagnosed with pancolitis (same as me), and responded quickly to IV steroids. It has beena few years and has been in a sustained remission since then with only Colazal now.

Good luck.

Jan

So very sorry to hear.

Well, I got him off the plane last night. I called my GI office on Friday and told them what was happening, I'm have been a ACTIVE patient there for over 10 years and they know me and my son ( cause for the last year he has been taking me to all my visits when I was sick, they know my daughter as well) and they tell me they can't get him in cause he would be a NEW patient with any of the dcotors till the END of Oct!. Their advise was to take him directly to the ER which is what I wanted to avoid. Since he seems stable and he got in late I will make the ER run early tomorrow a.m. before the doctors get in and it gets busy hopefully around 5 or 6. Er....I have not sleeped in 2 weeks.

That makes no sense at all, don't all doctors have emergency/extra appts set aside for problems just like this? This sounds very frustrating for both of you. ER docs aren't GI's. Please let us know how it goes. I hope he gets some help soon.

Thank you all for your support. We went to the ER early this a.m. and told the Gasto Fellow our story. He got us an immediate appt in my doctors office and he was scoped as soon as we got there. So much for a 6-8 week wait! Anyway, the news no mother wants to here-IBD-Don't know if it is CD or UC yet. Limited to the rectum. What bad timing-just as he got off the plane in the Carribean for Med School. I hope he can manage it when he returns in January cause there ain't no GI doctors there and they have no knowledge of this disease and what to do. In fact, the whole island has 1 internist!

So sorry to hear it's IBD. I'm glad he was able to get the scope today. Hopefully he will respond to treatment quickly. Thanks for the update.

Hey, that is good news that it is confined to the rectum. According to my GI, left sided UC has the same cancer risk as the general population. Once he gets this under control, I would suggest he bring an arsenal of meds With him when out of the country (prednisone, HC enemas) so that if he has a flare, he can just communicate with his docs by email for treatment advice. Once he is diagnosed, treated, and in remission (fingers crossed), he should be able to manage flares without face time with his doc.

Glad the ER thing worked out well. Sometimes it is the only way to fast track treatment. With my son, I brought him in for an urgent care internal medicine appointment due to his bloody diarhhea. They sent us straight to the ER, where he was quickly evaluated by a GI, and scoped the next day (EGD and colonoscopy). He still wound up in the hospital for a few days because he needed IV steroids, but he was home in time for our family trip to Hawaii.

Since then, he's been a good boy, takes his meds religiously, and hasn't missed a day of college since because of his UC. Hope your son has the same luck.

Jan