Not soon later, I was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis. I began to deal with two different but similar issues that caused me to spend more time in the hospital and in bathrooms, due to the diarrhea and vomiting. I tried every new medication that came out. Trying medical studies of medications before they were released to the public. I tried anything. Nothing worked, or if it did, it worked for a small amount of time.

About 5 years later, I started to watch what I ate and my pancreatitis went into remission. I haven’t had a bout with it in 7 years. I am listed as acute pancreatitis and not chronic any more but I still need to be careful and watch what I eat and drink. The Ulcerative Colitis has been an ongoing issue that I can, for the most part, control with my diet. I try not to take the steroids, and other medications too much but there are times that I don’t have a choice.

Things started to calm down for me till 11 years ago when the back pain began. I was pregnant and thought it was a normal symptom. Little did I know that there is more to it than that. Four major back surgeries later and a diagnosis of Degenerative Disc Disease and Osteoarthritis, my day in my life became very different.

Morning, again?
Morning, ugh, already? Seems just like I laid my head on the pillow to go to sleep. Bedtime gets harder and harder to deal with the older I get and the worse the pain gets. Sleep has always been difficult for me. Now with the pain in my lower back, the cramping in my gut, and the aches from arthritis. Sleep seems to disappear more than ever and barely shows its face to me. Mr. Sandman has skipped me over many a night and I lie awake begging for just one hour to rest my bones. But then when sleep finally comes to me, I wake to a sore and stiff body that is hard to move. Some mornings I need assistance from my husband to help me to even sit up. Then I move slowly throughout the day.

Either way, bed time is difficult and hard for me. I try to tell myself that its ok I don’t sleep that much. That sleep is over-rated and I don’t need that much. Most mornings I am taking it easy and trying to wake my body up. I work on easy things, most mornings, like writing, and catching up on emails. Getting myself prepared for the next part of the day.


Lisa is a wife of a police officer and a mother of two children, one being autistic. She is a blogger, a writer, and a full time patient with chronic pain. She deals with many illnesses on a daily basis and so this is what she has dedicated to writing about and her blog is also about. She writes about her experiences in hopes to help others that have gone through similar diagnosis and experiences too. Lisa believes that life can still be great, despite living with chronic pain and illnesses.

Currently Lisa and her family live in the beautiful state of Colorado. Lisa’s other part-time job is refereeing volleyball for a local high school's girls teams. She loves to be creative and most days can be found working on some sort of a project.