As you’ve seen previously, dealing with disability was very difficult. As some of you noted, the corporation in charge of this benefit still has the ultimate goal of making a profit. So, even though I was grateful that my company offered this, I was irritated at all of the hoops I constantly had to jump through.
At this point, I was about 4 months into my leave and I’d had to renew it every 2-3 weeks like clockwork. I’d already been hospitalized and released, and the cyclosporine was keeping me stable, but it was starting to take its toll. I couldn’t sleep, I was regularly getting sick out of both ends, I was shaking constantly, and my stomach hurt all the time. Spending hours on the phone and stressing out that I could lose my pay and insurance was the last thing I needed.
But, if you’ve learned anything from The Crohn’s Saga so far, it should be that Crohnies are a tough breed. We persevere not because we’re brave, but because we have to. We’re survivors.