The Hospital Is Becoming Our New Home

So.... on Monday, I get a concerned call from Chris that his stomach hurts so bad that it's hard to talk because it keeps taking his breath away, and is constantly hunched over in pain. He wondered whether or not he should try to keep working. I told him no. Just to recap..... he has been having debilitating stomach pains lately. They have been keeping him up at night and taking him down during the day. He can't do much of anything, including eat when they are there. They have seemed to be getting worse and worse. We decided to go to the VA Hospital ER. Another fact I want to throw out..... There is nothing "Emergency" about the VA. You go in, have to take a number, and the least amount of time you have to wait is 3 hours. I brought a bag with about as much food and things to do for 2 days! Well, Chris told them what was going on, and they got us right back. That is so rare. But we had to wait in the room just as long as we would have had to in the waiting room. They hooked him up to an IV, and kept administering morphine for the pain. It never worked on the stomachache, but Chris was able to make a lot of nonsense talk from it. They got a stool sample, and saw that there was blood (he bled almost a 1/3 cup the other day). They also made him drink a really nasty solution that looked like glue, preparing him for a CAT Scan. He received the scan, and they said they didn't see anything out of the ordinary. They ordered him an ultrasound the next day. We were only at the hospital for 6 hours. That is about average for us. He went in the next day for the ultrasound, and the lady doing it said that she thinks that she sees some swelling of his intestines and possibly some bleeding. She is not 100% sure, but says that he has all the symptoms and signs of Crohn's Disease. It's an auto-immune disease of the intestines. No cure and no treatment. Life expectancy is the same. It just gets worse over time and quality of life goes down. My Dad and Curtie came over last night and gave him a blessing. In the blessing, it was stated that he would heal over time and would not have to deal with this issue the rest of his life. It was a relief. I am so thankful and grateful for the Priesthood and cannot wait until Chris is able to hold the Melchezidek Priesthood.