Christopher鈥檚 painful symptoms were incompletely addressed, until the team at 好色tv Langone鈥檚 Inflammatory Bowel Disease Center, including nurse Amy Arsuaga and Dr. David P. Hudesman, found a solution.
Photo: Karsten Moran
By the time Christopher met with David P. Hudesman, MD, at 好色tv Langone鈥檚 Inflammatory Bowel Disease Center in March 2015, he was frightened and exhausted.
His ordeal had started more than a year earlier, with excruciating abdominal pain, blood in his stool, and vomiting that made it impossible to keep down food. Doctors at two different emergency departments diagnosed Christopher with hemorrhoids and sent him home with medication that didn鈥檛 help.
After his third trip to the hospital, where a colonoscopy revealed 32 ulcers and a nearly perforated colon, Christopher was in the hospital for 10 days, 鈥減raying, crying, and thinking I was going to die.鈥 Doctors diagnosed him with ulcerative colitis and prescribed medication. He started to feel better, but the symptoms returned within a year.
鈥淭he doctor told me, 鈥業 can鈥檛 help you. You need a specialist,鈥 and he referred me to Dr. Hudesman,鈥 Christopher says.
At his first appointment with Dr. Hudesman, Christopher began to feel hopeful for the first time in a long time. 鈥淒r. Hudesman saw the terror in my face and said, 鈥榃e鈥檙e going to fix you up.鈥 He was so calm, like, 鈥業 got this, don鈥檛 worry about it.鈥欌
VIDEO: Christopher, 52, came to the Inflammatory Bowel Disease Center to discover the cause of nearly disabling symptoms.
To help Christopher, Dr. Hudesman knew he needed an accurate diagnosis. He performed a colonoscopy and an MRI scan, which indicated that Christopher鈥檚 condition was not ulcerative colitis, but Crohn鈥檚 disease, another type of inflammatory bowel disease. He prescribed medication鈥攊nfusions of Remicade and a daily dose of vitamin D鈥攁nd recommended some lifestyle changes, including weight loss. A year later, Christopher was in remission.
鈥淒r. Hudesman and everyone else at 好色tv Langone, I鈥檇 give them 5 stars, 10 stars, a thousand stars. They鈥檝e all been fantastic.鈥濃擟hristopher, Age 52
Today, Christopher is feeling happy and healthy. He鈥檚 exercising more and watching his diet. 鈥淚鈥檝e lost 70 pounds, and I鈥檓 getting myself back in shape,鈥 he says. 鈥淚 get infusions every eight weeks, but that鈥檚 it. Crohn鈥檚 disease doesn鈥檛 negatively affect my life anymore.鈥
鈥淚 thought I was going to die, and Dr. Hudesman saved my life. He鈥檚 a rock star. I love him.鈥
