I was at the gym when after my normal 45 minutes on the elliptical I felt the urge to go to the bathroom, little did I know that this would be the beginning of the end of normalcy.  I went in the bathroom to pee when I realized I was bleeding rectally.  I thought this was a one time thing, in fact I didn’t even mention it to anyone including my husband until several weeks had passed.  I wiped and went back out into the gym area where my husband was also working out. We finished our workouts and went home for the evening.  I remember the vision in the toilet like it was yesterday, probably because the lights in the girls locker room are so bright and the blood was so red that it was hard to miss let alone forget.

Keep in mind, I started bleeding at the end of January and it wasn’t until a few weeks of inconsistent bloody bowl movements that I finally sent a picture to my mother one morning before work.  It was a Monday, I was waiting to go into work (as usual I’m always early) when I texted a picture to my mom asking if this was normal.  She responded with “Jerica, you need to go to the ER or get to a doctor.”  Being the responsible person that I am, I went into work in a panic but told my manager what was going on.  I called my primary Doctor first and they got me in the same day.  And this is when the real circus of my life began.