Crohn’s disease

By Cho Jae-hyon

My second son, a high school freshman, has suffered from stomach problems for the past few months. He wasn’t able to eat much and often he had diarrhea.

My wife took him to private clinics in the neighborhood many times, where he was told the usual stuff ― eat more vegetables and less fast food.

My son’s favorite food is meat. He doesn’t like kimchi or vegetables like most other teenagers these days. But he doesn’t like hamburgers or other fast food either. His eating habits were not ideal but not that bad ― he was quite a healthy boy except for that occasional rumbling in his tummy.

Doctors prescribed some medicine without specifying the exact cause of his habitual stomachache. Some of them diagnosed it as irritable bowel syndrome, the typical chronic disease involving relatively minor abdominal pain and digestive problems.

However, the medicine prescribed by the doctors, who are mostly well-known among housewives in the area, failed to soothe his stomach.

Earlier this month, his stomach problems started getting worse. My wife and son took a long trip to Daejeon to see an Oriental medicine doctor who is famous in the region. The doctor prescribed some herbal medicines but they didn’t work either.

Since he showed no improvement despite various efforts, I chided my son for not exercising enough, telling him: “At your age, your are supposed to digest even a stone.”

But he reached a point where he couldn’t even take any food from the second week of this month. Whenever he ate something, he had to run to the bathroom and had runny and watery bowel movements. He had more frequent and worse stomach pain.

As he was unable to eat, he began losing weight fast and his face began to look haggard in a matter of days. Then I belatedly realized that something was wrong ― seriously.

He needed a checkup at a bigger hospital, urgently. On Aug. 11, my wife took him to the Samsung Medical Center in Irwon, southern Seoul, one of the top hospitals in the nation.

The next day he went to the emergency room of the hospital and spent the night there, the usual course to get a room for hospitalization at a big hospital.

After several tests while he was staying in the emergency room, he was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease. My wife called me at work to deliver the bad news.

The name of the disease sounded so surreal. Crohn’s disease? What the heck is that?

I did an Internet search at my desk. Crohn’s is described as being “hard to diagnose and difficult to treat.” It is an inflammatory disease of the intestines that may affect any part of the digestive tract from mouth to anus. It is said to be related to autoimmune dysfunction.

I regretted not taking him to a bigger hospital earlier. I was angry at myself for having underestimated the severity of his ailment for so long.

The pictures of the inside of his large intestine, taken with an endoscope, showed fairly progressed inflammation. I realized painfully why he couldn’t eat.

It was my mistake to think that a teen like him couldn’t have a serious ulcer or inflammation in his intestines. He should have gotten an endoscopy earlier. Feelings of remorse and guilt hit me.

Doctors told me that the exact cause of Crohn’s disease is still unknown. They said the number of Crohn’s patients, especially teenagers, is growing in Korea. It is said the disease is more common in the United States and other Western countries.

Despite a growing number of patients, most people are unaware of the disease. I believe doctors at smaller neighborhood clinics are also unfamiliar with it. This ignorance could worsen the situation.

Currently only a handful of big hospitals can diagnose and provide treatment. It is highly possible that many people are suffering from severe digestive problems without knowing the cause of their ailment. If they were diagnosed accurately, and earlier, a lot of pain would be spared.

Unfortunately, the reality is bleak. The odds for patients to receive quality medical service at the right place and the right time are very low here. Though the whole nation is abuzz with the promotion of welfare, overall medical service remains poor.

My son was discharged from the hospital Sunday after a weeklong stay.

Back home, he said he wants to eat fried chicken the most. But he must abstain from such temptations, at least until the inflammation is gone. At school, he won’t be able to play football with his friends during lunch.

Although he is recovering fast and feeling no acute pains in his abdomen, sadly this disease won't be cured overnight. He has a long way to go. One door is closed for him but I believe many other doors will open for my son now that he has been properly diagnosed and can begin to heal.