by Sharon K. Shubert

Created on: November 06, 2008

It's almost my 1 year anniversary. It won't be a happy occasion celebrated with cake. I won't throw a party with balloons. It will be a quiet shivering recollection of a nightmare that almost resulted in my death.

It all started 23 years before.

In 1983, shortly after the birth of my second son, I began experiencing severe abdominal pain during or immediately after almost every meal. It really didn't matter what foods I ate, the pain would be at times, unbearable. I made an appointment with my family physician who told me "it's just stress. Cut out the stress factors and cut back on gassy foods such as broccoli, cauliflower and don't eat black pepper because it doesn't digest." That was it. There were no tests, no x-rays, nothing except a five minute conversation about the symptoms I was experiencing on a daily basis.

So, following those short doctors orders I stopped eating broccoli, cauliflower and black pepper. I had no idea how to cut out the "stress factors". I wasn't even sure what he was talking about! Did he think I was crazy? What were "stress factors"? In 1983, stress was not a common word like it is now. At the time I had a very demanding full-time job in the insurance industry, a bad marriage, lot of bills, and two children under the age of five. When I think back on those days, in hind-sight I understand the stress factors. I kept working my job, running my house, paying the bills, dealing with the marriage, and taking care of my small children. The only changes were the omissions of broccoli, cauliflower and black pepper from my diet.

The stomach cramping did not stop. I had a stomach-ache almost every single day of my life for a little over 23 years. Each one would last up to five or six hours after a meal. Accompanying the pain would be a bout with diarrhea. In fact I rarely had a "normal" bowel movement. Life went on.

Over the years I went back and forth to the doctor. He never ran one single test on me. He finally diagnosed me with colitis and gave me a prescription; the name of the medication I now forget. It did nothing to help me so I stopped taking it. I decided I just had to live with these stomach aches. I quit going to the doctor.

Fast forward to early 2007 when I began experiencing strange symptoms throughout various parts of my body: color prisms in my vision, sudden receding of my gums, loose teeth, dizziness, headaches, pin-prick sensations in my finger tips. The stomach aches became increasingly worse and almost non-stop.

My son and his

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