Surprised by Crohn's (and God)

My big boy, age 4 and so healthy!

On Friday, I got an exciting phone call.

Many of you know that Little Buddy, our 4-year-old son was diagnosed with Crohn's Disease at the age of 20 months old.  I'll give you a little background, in case you don't know anything about the disease or our story and then tell you about this phone call.

Crohn's is a chronic (non-curable) disorder in which your own immune system attacks and causes inflammation of your digestive track. Crohn's patients suffer to varying degrees with varying symptoms.  To put it bluntly, it's a sucky and can be an embarrassing disease, especially when not under control by medications.

My son's symptoms included chronic bloody diarrhea (I often changed his diaper 10x a day), loss of appetite, loss of weight, vomiting, and even Crohn's-induced arthritis.  At one point, his joints were so stiff he would crawl across the floor to us and want us to carry him everywhere.  We watched him suffer and grow increasingly sick for six months (from age 18-24 months), as we searched for a diagnosis and a treatment to get his disease under control.  Thankfully, a little past his 2nd birthday, a medication called Remicade worked for him, and he has been in remission since.

When we first got my son's diagnosis, I remember thoughts like "Why does God allow children to suffer?" and "Why is this part of God's plan for my little boy?"  Although I knew what I believed theologically about God and how He uses trials for our good, I had to wrestle with it personally for the first time.  I'm sure it won't be the hardest thing I face in life, but it has been so far.

With no family history or knowledge of the disease, we were clearly surprised by Crohn's.  Through that long, difficult process and over the past two years of his remission, though, we've also been surprised by God.  

At 20 months and one of his sickest times.

God was unbelievably good to us during Jack's sickest time.  Our church and family rallied around us.  We were guided to the best doctors we could hope for--excellent ones who care for our family and are great advocates for Jack.

Now, here's the latest way God has once again surprised me by his great care and concern for my son.  By way of back story, after my son's initial diagnosis, we were planning to fly to California to see one of the leading pediatric GI doctors named Marla Dubinsky for a second opinion.  For various reasons, we put that off at the time.

On Friday afternoon I got an exciting call from our specialist's office.  Guess who Little Buddy gets to consult with tomorrow morning?  Yep, Dr. Dubinsky.  We're not flying to California, though.  She is visiting our doctor tomorrow and consulting with a few lucky patients. We just happen to be one of those patients!

Crohn's surprised us.  God surprises us all the more.