On April 30, 2009 I woke up in a tremendous amount of pain-so much that I had a very difficult time getting up out of bed and even had to call off of work. I hated doing this, because I love my job and the people that I work with. I am a sous chef at the Borgata and this was the position that I had been waiting for. The Executive Chef recognized my work ethic so my hours were changed and I was working more independently. This was truly a sense of accomplishment.

Back in March, I was hospitalized after a 12 hour wait in the ER for an Ulcerative Colitis flare up and couldn't relive that experience again. Rather than wait in the ER, I made an emergency appointment with my GI doctor, Dr. DuFrayne. That Monday, my doctor told me that a CT SCAN was needed immediately so I returned to the ER again. After going through a CT SCAN with contrast (dye is injected in order to provide greater clarity and reveal more details than regular x-ray exams), I was admitted. They took many tests