My life with Crohn’s disease, Part 5

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I am very thankful to have had an amazing support system while I was in the hospital. The first few days were a difficult and I had a lot of people coming to see me when I was at my worst. I think they didn’t realize how sick I was and thought I’d be out of there in a couple of days and wanted to show their support while I was there. Instead, it wore me out.
But after those initial days, I started getting a little more settled in. I was on the pediatric ward, so there were always people stopping by trying to make your stay a little easier. (I wish all hospital stays were like the pediatric ward!) There were people with nail polish, arts and crafts, dogs who do tricks. The football team even came by to see me. (So even though I am the furthest thing from a Duke fan, there will always be a soft spot in my heart for the guys who visit the kids at the hospital.)

Since we knew I’d be out of school for a while, I actually was un-enrolled at my private school and enrolled in Durham Public Schools for the semester. I worked with a tutor at the hospital who would come to see me each day. We used the curriculum from my usual school and took my own tests and everything else.
There’s a cool story about meeting my tutor. My parents had some friends out in Winston Salem who heard that I was in the hospital. This couple left my mom a voicemail that first day saying that they were praying for me. They also had put my name on a prayer list that they sent to the wife’s sister. About a week after I was there, I was studying with the tutor and my mom mentioned the name of someone we know. My tutor said that she knew the same person and it led us to figure out that she was the sister of my mom’s friend out in Winston Salem. Suddenly my tutor realized that I was the “Stephanie” that was on the prayer list her sister and had sent her and said that she’d been praying for me before we even met. How amazing is that?!
The hospital team was great there, too. Even though we had some issues with the secondary people (such as the people at recovery from colonoscopy and the phlebotomy group), my nurses and doctors were amazing. Since I was there for several weeks, I got to know the nurses very well. One in particular really impacted me. Her name is Wan and she is originally from China.

This brought about another pretty cool story. When we first met Wan, my mom made a comment about this one couple that we know who are originally from China. And wouldn’t you know, that couple just happened to be really close friends of Wan and her family and were even in each other’s weddings. Brings a whole new appreciation for the phrase “It’s a small world.”
So Wan and I built a good relationship while I was there. She would tell me about China and teach me how to write and say some words in Chinese. It was because of her that I originally wanted to pursue a degree in Asian Studies and the entire reason that I decided to go to UNC Chapel Hill. So while things changed when I was in college and I didn’t end up going that direction, meeting Wan definitely changed the course that my life as taken.
These people who took care of me and my family and who came by to visit or send cards and flowers, they forever changed my life. I don’t think most of them know what an impact they had on me as a kid, but I forever grateful for the things that they did to help me get through the most difficult time of my life.