How Does Crohn's Disease Effect You?

In the first unit of my class Disease, we talked about how different diseases affected each part of the body. We also discussed what each part of the body is called; from Integumentary to Circulatory. We also spoke on how some diseases target certain age groups or locations. We had to conduct an interview with someone with a disease. I chose someone in my family who has Crohn's disease. This is a disease that targets, both the smaller and larger intestines. This was actually pretty difficult, since you had to get all the details right and make sure everything was precise in the drawing of the body. Although this project was really fun and informative, it was also pretty hard!

How Crohn's Affects The Body. DNR, February 13.

Crohn's disease is one of the most horrifying diseases to ever affect the digestive system. Crohn's disease is something that target the intestines and make it hard for you to release waste, and also causes abdominal pain, severe diarrhea, fatigue, weight loss, and malnutrition. When affecting the intestines, it usually slips into the bowel tissue. As my interviewee stated, Crohn's can lead to life-threatening situations. Even though I have a personal relationship with the interviewee, you have to respect the strength it takes to live under these conditions. Since the interviewee has to live under these conditions involuntarily, she can't eat what she wants to eat, she has depend on her family to watch over her children, including a newborn. In our interview, she told me about the time when she was first separated from her baby at 3 months. Her baby had to stop being nursed and live with his grandmother for two weeks. I was also affected by this and it's not easy to be told someone in your family will have to stay in the hospital for two weeks.

Since medical trainers and doctors have not fully understood what causes Crohn's disease yet, there is not a lot of treatments to pursue if you do have it. My mother has implemented another kind of treatment though, she has decided to strictly watch what she puts into her system. What she eats is key to keeping her body from having Crohn's related problems and being healthy. This disease can not be spread or passed on. It is a multi-factorial and environmental disease. Some risk factors are being at a low age or living in an industrialized country. Usually developed from the high-fat diets in more developed countries or from being younger than 30 yrs old.

Is Reality Really Real (IRRR)?

In the first unit of my class Forbidden Books, we discussed how we can use our inspiration from Socrates to create our own definition of life in general. We also discussed why the media may not have liked published books in the past and present. Socrates was a very famous philosopher and teacher who taught people to believe in what they believe in and to know that they know nothing. When he says, "all you know is that you know nothing," he means that if you admit that you know nothing, you will only then be open to obtaining knowledge. This is when I started to wrap my head around the real definition of the Socratic method of dialogue. I have come to the conclusion that the Socratic method consists of using wits to pierce others' arguments. I chose to analyze my own problem using the Socratic method. I chose to speak on the subject of, "what is reality?" I've always been interested in defining life and how we came to be! Writing my script was challenging but more importantly, I learned to investigate and not to let the original answer be the last answer for you.

Script Below:
DR: Hello Ra, to what do I owe this pleasure?

VG: I’ve just been in Rivea lately and decided to come find you.

DR: I’m happy you did. I’ve been asking the same question to different people for over a year now. There’s this thing about the definition of Reality. I’ve been trying to find out what people around Rivea thought about my topic.

VG: Everyone knows that reality is just what’s real.

DR: Ok, if reality is what’s real, then what is real? Because, is the definition of real the same as the definition of reality? Tell me more.

VG: Well, what I meant was that real is the base of the word reality and by that being true, then they have to be similar, correct?

DR: I agree. Definitely, they are similar but as in Geometry, they are not congruent which is closest to your statement of them being the “same”. Do you understand what I’m saying? Saying something is real doesn’t help me understand reality.

VG: I kind of have an idea of what you are talking about. Your comparison to mathematics is interesting, although the definition of similar is “resembling without being identical,” resemble means “to seem like” and my intentions of saying “same” is because it “seems like” the word reality has the same intentions as the word real.

DR: Very interesting indeed. Let me ask a question if you don’t mind. Do you believe in imagination and hallucination?

VG: Of course, what would life be without it? Everything had to be created or thought of. Imagination is just that, isn’t it?

DR: It is. But my thing about all this is that, what do we ACTUALLY know about reality? Is anything “real” or is reality even a thing? How do we know we are living? We are living a life destined by someone else. We can’t create our own destiny because everything is meant to be. Everything came from something, like you just said, I believe our origins are yet to be known because none of our knowledge can really be proven due to the fact that we don’t exactly have a clue about what reality is.

VG: Hm, so you’re saying that it’s possible for our knowledge of reality, and way of living could all be wrong? I guess I never thought of it that way.

DR: I have only recently had this epiphany, assuming you know that an epiphany is a realization. It just came to me. How do we know the truth when we weren’t there to notice it ourselves, so our meaning of reality is just an imagination of what our elders “think”.

VG: Wow Deshius, I leave tomorrow and I will surely take this knowledge along with me.

DR: I hope you do, wonderful seeing you again.