My Colon will survive the Hayduke Route

So, I have not written in a long time and since now I am half way(492 miles) along my journey on the Hayduke Route, I thought it would be a good time to stop, reflect not only on this journey, but on what has happened in my life in the last few months. My health is one of the most important things in this world and I have been suffering with Crohns Disease, Pernicious Anemia, and a hole in my heart forever. I use to think that I could manage my Crohns flare- ups, days of 20 plus bloody bowel movements, joint and muscle pain, extreme stomach pain, fatigue and so on, well, for the first time in my life, I finally figured out that I could not fight this disease alone or ignore it's pain and sickness. I am currently thru hiking the Hayduke Route, from Arches National Park to Zion National Park through the Grand Canyon, a route that is off trail, very remote and difficult hiking and I had been putting up with being sick day after day for months, but last weekend I could not bare the pain nor living day to day being sick. I had hitched off the Hayduke to a town called Cannonville,Utah, in the middle of nowhere and since I am on foot everything is far far way. I ended up hitch hiking 40 miles in the rain to the closest hospital because I knew I was finally at the point where I was too sick that I needed medical intervention. I spent a day in the hospital being pumped with steroids and antibiotics and then I decided that I had to keep hiking. I promised myself I would live my life despite the challenges, pain and sickness of the diseases and health issues I have. After all everyone has to play the card they are dealt, so I packed up my backpack and continued on the Hayduke, I am now taking around 12 pills a day and slowly I think my body is responding in a positive way to the medications, so I am grateful for that. This Hayduke Route is wild, wild as can be, miles and miles of canyons, lost rock, lost canyon washes and places so far out there most will never see. I feel like I am on a geological tour of the history of time and the history of the West. My days are spent climbing over and down huge boulders, quicksand, walking in mud as slippery as bacon grease, walking miles in rivers, walking through deep sand at the bottom of canyons so removed from the real world. It is so magical out here and so beautiful that I can hardly explain it or even believe it myself. It is humbling and scary sometimes, but never does it fail to awe me on a level I have never experienced. The Grand Canyon is next, 3 weeks traversing the inner North Rim Canyon on routes that only few ever see. I am looking forward to that very much. Although I love these long adventures, I do very much miss my family, especially my mom and dad. I long to see them and miss their voice and every night I spend on the ground under the stars lost in the canyon lands I pray they are well and happy. I love my parents and I am a very lucky girl to have the parents I do. So, here is to being stubborn and tough, to going for dreams and goals despite whatever challenge comes your way. Here is to fighting through chronic diseases and not letting them define who and what you do. That is all for now.