Lying in a hospital bed, Kellie Bigelow’s fear grew as she absorbed what her doctor was saying: “We need to remove a foot of your inflamed intestines.”
The Leroy, Michigan, 58-yearold grandmother was hospitalized three or four times a year with diverticulitis, a condition in which the harmless pouches that can form inside the intestines become inflamed and infected. For Kellie, that meant terrible pain in her belly, sometimes with constipation or diarrhea, and always with nausea. Antibiotics would clear the infection, but the harsh meds also irritated her sensitive gut lining, never allowing her to fully heal.
Kellie followed doctors’ orders and didn’t eat nuts or seeds, which can get trapped in the intestinal pouches. And she read every book on the condition, trying anything suggested. But still, she suffered.
If I stay on this path, it’s an early grave for me for sure, Kellie despaired. But she didn’t know how to break the cycle.
This story is from the September 12, 2022 edition of Woman's World.
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This story is from the September 12, 2022 edition of Woman's World.
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