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Thursday saw another trip to the emergency room (ER). Nothing to worry about, wasn't too serious - in fact, it was quite convenient - I'd been to a client in the morning to give a presentation that went well, then returned home. Picked up some things on the way back and got in around 1:00. Karen had been to the zoo with William and they got back at 2:00. At about 2:15 I got the symptoms (bleeding) that they told me I need to head off to the ER for. Even though I wasn't happy about it, I felt fine. So much so that Karen had a slow puncture in her car and we decided to take it and pump it up on the way. She then dropped me off at the ER, went to get the tire fixed, did some shopping, dropped the shopping off at home, then came to pick me up. Timed to perfection as they were just releasing me (although they offered to let me stay overnight) when she got there. But not before yet another doctor got the chance to have a quick poke up my arse. I tell you, there's now a sweepstake in the San Francisco medical community as to who's going to be next. Bonus points awarded for the most inventive device.

Anyway, the ironies. I got to thinking about with what seems to be happening to me. First, what brought me to ER - the Crohns makes me susceptible to bleeding, but I have a blood clot that puts me on blood thinners that makes me even more susceptible to bleeding. Hence the need to monitor the thinners on a regular basis.

I've already mentioned that I have both constipation and diarrhea at the same time which is an enigma all by itself. Although many have said that I don't know whether I'm coming or going. Then there's the Crohns and the C-diff infection - I can't start the long-term treatment for the Crohns until I've finished taking the antibiotics for the infection (which I finished on Friday so can start on the next thing on Monday). And now for one that keeps rattling round my head - the treatment for the Crohns is going to be biologic so getting injected with some stuff that's made up of both human and rodent dna. For those who are smart enough, they will have figured out that the irony here lies with the blood thinners (warfarin). For those who haven't got there yet, warfarin is used as rat poison, so it seems like I'm going to be putting something into me then killing it.

On another note, the biologics have a few potential side effects (and no, growing a tail and squeaking is not one of them) that are a little worrying, but my biggest fear is getting home one day and looking across the room to see the cat sit up with a glint in his eye then having him chase me round the house.

Another fear is that this treatment involves injections and they kind of want me to inject myself which I'm trying to get my head around. I know that millions of diabetics do it everyday, so I'm sure I'll get there. They did suggest one option though and that was to teach Karen to do it. We both agreed that probably wouldn't be a good idea - not because she wouldn't be capable, more that I'd probably wouldn't be a very good patient for her. Still, not wanting her to feel left out, they gave me some suppositories for the constipation and I've told her she can help me with those if she wants.

The last thought before I post is an old saying when I was younger to “make sure you always have on clean underwear as you never know when you're going to end up in hospital.” In my case I can't help think that this is tempting fate and maybe I shouldn't change my underwear for the next few weeks.