About IBD Podcast Episode 158 - Starting College After a Crohn’s Diagnosis With Christina King

Starting College After a Crohn’s Diagnosis With Christina King – About IBD Podcast Episode 158

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Christina King shares her journey with being diagnosed with Crohn’s disease in 2021. She was misdiagnosed with gastritis and hemorrhoids, until her severe symptoms of rectal bleeding and weight loss, plus multiple trips to the emergency department, led to a hospitalization. An in-patient colonoscopy finally led to a diagnosis of Crohn’s, and she was finally able to get treatment and improve. She was unable to go to school with her high school graduating class, and is now ready to start pursuing her dream of becoming a nurse. Christina tells Amber where she went for information in the early days after diagnosis and how she’s approaching accommodations for IBD as she begins school.

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Transcript (Machine Generated):

[Music: IBD Dance Party]

Amber Tresca 0:00
Amber. I’m Amber Tresca, and this is about IBD. I’m a medical writer and patient educator who lives with a J pouch due to ulcerative colitis. It’s my mission to educate people living with Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis about their disease and to bring awareness to the patient journey.

Amber Tresca 0:19
Welcome to Episode 158!

Amber Tresca 0:22
When I was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis, my first gastroenterologist told me that IBD was a disease of young people, I didn’t really understand what he meant, because my experience at that point was mostly people were surprised at how sick I was because I was a teenager.

Amber Tresca 0:36
One of the many unmet needs in IBD is getting a prompt diagnosis. Sometimes this is because they’re thought to be too young to have a serious condition, which, of course, is not true.

Amber Tresca 0:47
My guest is Christina King, who is a student who lives with Crohn’s disease. Christina was diagnosed as she was finishing up high school, and it unfortunately derailed her plans for college. She’s now at a point where her disease is better controlled, so she’s working towards starting her first semester at college. Every diagnosis story is unique, and many of them illustrate the failure points in our healthcare system. This is especially true in Christina’s case, she needed to advocate for herself at every step of the way. You’ll hear her incredible story and learn how she’s planning for college while she continues to learn how Crohn’s disease will affect her.

Amber Tresca 1:25
Christina, welcome to About IBD.

Christina King 1:27
Hi, Amber. I’m glad to be here. Thank you for having me.

Amber Tresca 1:31
Oh, it is my pleasure. So let’s get started first by having you introduce yourself to our audience.

Christina King 1:38
Sure. My name is Christina King. I’m from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. I’m 23 years old, and I’m a soon to be college student, and I’ve been living with Crohn’s disease since I was 20 years old, so little over three years now, right.

Amber Tresca 1:56
And you’re soon to begin college journey. Is the reason that we’re here today. But let’s first get started at the beginning of your story. Would you tell me a little bit about your journey with Crohn’s disease, such as, you know, what were your symptoms like, and how did you get diagnosed?

Christina King 2:15
Sure, I want to say my symptoms first started showing up towards the middle of 2020, at the time, I started experiencing a bunch of bizarre symptoms that just basically came out of nowhere. I was getting these weird rashes that would happen all over my face. Later on, was when I started noticing the GI symptoms. I was experiencing some blood in my stools, and I mentioned that to my family doctor. He thought it could have been related to a hemorrhoid. He referred me to a general surgeon, and I saw the general surgeon, and he then scheduled me for a colonoscopy, but because covid happened shortly afterwards, yeah, my colonoscopy ended up being canceled,

Amber Tresca 3:09
Oh boy.

Christina King 3:09
And was pushed back for several months. I didn’t end up having it until August of that year. Yeah, I went in for that colonoscopy, and afterwards, the general surgeon came to me, and he goes, everything seems to look fine, but I would recommend that you go see a gastroenterologist. So I just assumed that everything was fine, and I saw the GI. About month later, in the meantime, that was when all the symptoms started showing up again. I start I was getting I was very fatigued. I had a lot of abdominal cramping, which seemed to get worse after I’d eat, and I had diarrhea, I was going to the bathroom, like, up to 10 times a day. I was losing a lot of weight, like, at a very concerning rate. I want to say I lost about 10 to 15 pounds in just a couple weeks, which…

Amber Tresca 4:18
Oh my gosh, very, concerning.

Christina King 4:21
…concerning, very concerning. But the first GI that I was seeing at the time wasn’t really that great. I always referred to him as the five minute man. He literally, my gosh, he was his doctor. Was the five minute man, bitterly, I think, like my last point, my last appointment with him, before I started seeing somebody else. He spent like, a good 1015, minutes with me. And I was, like, shocked. I finally, after. Few months, convinced him to do some further testing, and he did an upper endoscopy, but literally, the night before that procedure, everything started going downhill. I was experiencing severe rectal bleeding, like it literally would fill the toilet. And you know how you meet with the doctor before any procedures? That was when I said something to him about it. He didn’t even do any sort of exams, nothing. He did nothing, no nothing. No rectal exams, no nothing. He just looked at me and he goes, I think you have a hemorrhoid, and I don’t deal with them. I don’t deal with hemorrhoids. You need to go see a gash. You need to go see a general surgeon. I don’t deal with that. Okay? And I was like, okay, okay. I had so that appointment was scheduled right after the upper endoscopy, the gastroenterologist, he comes over to me, and he said that he found, he found a lot of inflammation in my stomach, but he didn’t think anything of that. He thought that was just, it was just gastritis, and it would basically go away on its own. He said, okay, and I was, I know it’s very I didn’t really, it didn’t make any sense Christina, it didn’t make any sense to be? I was like, but I was like, okay, none of this makes any sense to be, but I’m not gonna question him. He’s the medical professional. I’m a nobody. So who am I to question this doctor who went to school for went to school for this?

Amber Tresca 7:01
Yeah, but apparently, no, even though he’s a gastroenterologist!

Christina King 7:08
he was, it was, it was insane, but bizarre. Oh my gosh. And so then, so afterwards, after that, when I got home that day from the the procedure, after the procedure, I just, I felt awful. I ended up in the ER. That whole week. I ended up in the ER like three or four times in one week, the ER doctor looks at me, and he goes, I think you should go see a colorectal surgeon. Yeah, for this, I think you need to go see a colorectal surgeon, because if this is an internal hemorrhoid, he deals with that. And so I was like, I told him, I told him I had an appointment with this general surgeon coming up, and he’s like, no, no, I don’t think you need to go see this general surgeon. I think you need to go see a colorectal surgeon. And I managed to get in to see one relatively quickly, and he went over my chart and everything and all the notes from the ER. And he was like, Okay, well, I don’t really know if this is a hemorrhoid that we’re dealing with, but we’ll treat it and see what happens. We’ll go from there. So he did. He treated me with like, different enemas and different creams and all that, and nothing was helping shock is, I know shocking that that shockingly that nothing helped me. He would call me every day because he had, he had a feeling that something was happening, and he was like, I I want to see you back in my office. I went in to see him, and he did a flexible sigmoidoscopy in his office. No anesthesia, no nothing.

Amber Tresca 9:22
Oh yes, I’ve had many.

Christina King 9:25
I’ve I’ve only had one. I’ve only had one. So, no, it’s not and afterwards, he looked at me and he goes, I he said, I think this is either ulcerative colitis or Crohn’s disease, you need to go see your gastroenterologist and have a colonoscopy done as soon as possible. So I went in to see this gastroenterologist. I was fed up with this guy. I didn’t want to go back in there to see. Um, I had to he knew everything that was going on because of the colorectal surgeon, because the colorectal surgeon had already told him. He comes into the room and he goes, let’s get you scheduled for this colonoscopy. I was like, oh, okay, you finally want to do something. Okay, I’m glad. Yes. Let’s get this colonoscopy scheduled. I was scheduled for it a week later. I was trying so hard not to have to go into the ER. But of course, everything got worse that night. In the middle of the night, it was like one in the morning. I had to go to the bathroom, of course, and that was when all this blood just started coming out. Oh my gosh, and there was clots and everything like, I’m I’m getting very graphic with you, and I’m really immunosuppression. This is sorry for this is important. Viewers too, the people are hearing this, but no, this is real life. Like this is what I went through. I had a lot of pain. Like the pain just got unbearable, and so I went in there. I woke up my I woke my mom up, and I was like, Mom, I hate to do this, but I, I think I have to go to the ER. Yeah, we packed up, went to the ER, and the first gi that came up, like he was the one on call, because it was in the middle of the night, yeah. And so he was like, well, the soonest we could do your colonoscopy would be Monday. He’s like, we don’t do them on the weekends, so you would have to be in the ER, or you would have to be in the hospital through the weekend, and we would have to prep you Sunday and do the colonoscopy Monday. And I was like, I’m okay with that. Let’s do it. I was tired of it at this point. I was like, I’m not going home. Have it. I’m not going home. Just have to come back here because I can’t stand these symptoms anymore. He did. He admitted me and I prepped. Did the colonoscopy. I had no idea who was going to be doing the colonoscopy like they didn’t. They didn’t tell me, and it ended up being the gastroenterologist that I am seeing now, and he is amazing. He knew before he even met me or anything. He hasn’t even seen me. He knew I had the colonoscopy afterwards, I remember I woke up. I saw my mom hugging the scar neurologist, like she’s hugging him. She’s sobbing, and I just remember her saying, Thank you, like thank you for saving my daughter. And he told me everything that he found. He told me that there was a lot of inflammation in my colon. There were like skip lesions. That’s how he was able to differentiate between Crohn’s disease and osteocholitis. He said if I were to make a diagnosis today, it would be Crohn’s disease. I was just relieved at that point. I was relieved that we finally had answers. I finally had there was finally an explanation. I immediately thought, Okay, well, what does this mean? He looked at me, and he goes, You, You’re not going home. He’s like, You need to be admitted and I need to start you on IV steroids. It was after that where I actually felt better, yeah, and I felt somewhat normal, like I was so used to feeling terrible that that just became normal. Yeah, it was just an indescribable feeling when I actually was starting to feel better the day that I was actually discharged the I guess that was when he was rounding. Was this first guy. Of course, my mom sees him, and she looked up and she goes, you know, your wife may enjoy those five minute routine, but your patience deserve better. Like that was the best thing she’s ever said…

Amber Tresca 14:39
She was sitting on that for a long time. She was sitting on that. She was biding her time.

Christina King 14:44
She was biting her tongue, and she like the oh my gosh, the nurses and everyone. They were just stunned. He was at a loss, like he he was speechless. She just looked at him and she. Goes. She is not seeing you in the office anymore. I basically thanked him for everything. Thanked him for everything, even though he did nothing. But I started on biologics and failed two different ones, until I started in tivio, and I’ve been great. That was my journey. Pretty eventful.

Amber Tresca 15:25
Very eventful.

[MUSIC: Piano Interlude]

Amber Tresca 15:28
Up next, Christina describes how Crohn’s disease changed her plans for college. .

Amber Tresca 15:45
So Christina, did you have any family history of IBD? Had you heard of it before this? This was all a surprise.

Christina King 15:51
It. It was basically all surprise. I don’t really know if there is any family history of IBD after I was diagnosed my my dad told me that he thinks that his niece or somebody in his family may have had it, may have had IBD. He doesn’t really know because he he grew up in foster care, so he unfortunately doesn’t know much about his biological family. I have obviously heard of it prior to my diagnosis. I’ve like, you hear about Crohn’s disease and ostrich politis you. You see these commercials for these different biologics, but I didn’t really know what it was. I didn’t know much about it.

Amber Tresca 16:36
Yeah, of course. I mean seeing a commercial on TV obviously doesn’t deep insight into it, like, like, actually having, like, actually having these diseases. So yeah, basically, from until you met the gastroenterologist that diagnosed you, everything that you experienced, I am so sorry. I’m apologizing on behalf of the universe, I guess, because absolutely insane. None of that should have gone that way, and you should not have gotten so sick that was really, really ridiculous. What happened to you. So, all right, so you were, you, you’re very young. You were you had graduated high school, correct?

Christina King 17:21
Yes.

Amber Tresca 17:22
Okay, so this also meant that you were dealing with all of this and you were not continuing with your plans for after high school as you had expected. Okay, so what was that like to not be able to move on with your peers like you had expected to?

Christina King 17:40
Well, my original plan for after high school was to go to college. I wanted to go to college straight out of high school. I didn’t want to have to take any gap years. I didn’t want to take any time off, like I told myself in high school, like my senior year of high school, I kept telling myself, this is what your plans are. And so I tried to make that happen. I applied for college. I applied for the community college in my area. Got accepted, and everything was good to go. I I was just about to register for classes, but then I had to defer my application that year because of just how sick I was and how bad my health got, that I, you know, I tried, I tried to push through like I wanted to go, but I knew I just physically caught in at that point I needed to take time off. And so, yeah, that’s obviously what I did, not that I’m necessarily proud of it…

Amber Tresca 18:54
Well, I mean, you know, I knew you were diagnosed with Crohn’s disease. I knew that it came at a very pivotal point in your life, and so it delayed some major life decisions. But after hearing everything that had happened, I mean, this is not this is not surprising to me, like you, you had a major situation to deal with. You first had to push and push and push to get diagnosed, and it wasn’t until you were incredibly ill that you were diagnosed, then you had to work to bring yourself back to health. So it should not have worked out that way. But I understand why it happened, and I think you didn’t really have any choice, and probably if you had tried to register for classes and sort of limped along being as ill as you were, and, you know, the doctor’s appointments and everything take over your life when you are when you are that sick, especially with the first flare up, like there’s, I don’t, I mean, I don’t think it would have been helpful to you. You probably, it’s not nice to say maybe, but you may not have done well.

Christina King 19:59
Yeah.

Amber Tresca 20:00
So that, I mean, just so and then trying to come back after that, from what I understand, if you have a difficult semester, trying to come back is even harder. So I wish that none of this had happened to you and that you had moved on with your cohort. But in the end, I think, I think what you did was the right yeah. Was the right decision.

Christina King 20:20
Yeah, it definitely wasn’t. It wasn’t what I wanted to do, but I knew it’s what was best I had to do, what was best for me.

Amber Tresca 20:30
Yeah, because now you’re able to move on. Now you are able to start school. Yes, you’re starting immunosuppression right now. So, all right, tell me what’s your major? What is it that you are going to study in school?

Christina King 20:44
My major is pre Health Associates in Science. It is the program that you take prior to the nursing program. So you basically have to qualify for the nursing program. And so you have to take a bunch of jet ed courses and courses towards your major, and so that’s basically what I’m doing now, so that I can go in for nursing, start clinicals and all that.

Amber Tresca 21:14
Right? And had you wanted to pursue nursing directly from high school, or did your journey impact you at all?

Christina King 21:22
Yes, I knew I wanted to be a nurse since high school, since, I want to say, even before high school. Actually, my mom has nursing background, and so she she used to work in a hospital, and she did a bunch of at home care, like nursing homes and at home care when I was little. So I basically grew up around that field, right? And so that’s, that’s where the inspiration came from, I guess, is just seeing her do it. And then, of course, my diagnosis, the diagnosis with Crohn’s disease, did help with did help ignite that passion.

Amber Tresca 22:09
Right, and so, even going back to school now, you’re healthier, you’re doing better, but that doesn’t mean that you aren’t going to need accommodations. So I’m wondering right now, especially after having this little gap in your schooling, what are some of your biggest concerns with going back and attending classes now having Crohn’s disease,

Christina King 22:31
My biggest concern would probably have to be the attendance because I would obviously have to miss classes for infusions every month. And if I were to, God forbid, if I were to have another flare up, I would probably have to miss more classes for it. Yeah, and yeah, I’m nervous that all those, all those absences won’t be excused, and I won’t have extra time to make up this makeup work that I’ve missed, and I would potentially risk being dropped out of these courses. So definitely, before I start, I will have to make sure that accommodations are put in place, and that all these absences would be excused and I’ll have extended time to make, to make up work that I may miss and won’t cause issues.

Amber Tresca 23:34
Yeah, but, but you’re doing it right though. You’re going in and you’re laying this out in front of them and telling them, yes, you know it’s a possibility. And truthfully, if you think about it, it’s a possibility for anybody, anybody could get injured or be diagnosed unexpectedly or have a family issue. So I think it’s something that when you live with an IBD, you have to deal with. I wish we didn’t, but I think it’s the right thing to go to Administration at your school and just lay it out and say, This is what might happen, and if it does, this is what I’m going to need.

Christina King 24:11
I told them from the very beginning that I was going to need accommodations in school, and I asked them, like, who I was supposed to talk to about getting those, making sure that those were put in place, because I’m not registering for classes and I’m not going to school there, unless I know that these accommodations are going to be put in place and that they’re going to be met. Because I don’t want, I don’t want any problems moving forward.

Amber Tresca 24:44
Of course not, and it’s an it’s entirely reasonable. What you’re asking for is entirely reasonable, and it’s likely that you may not even need to use some of the things that you ask for or the things that you put in place in case. Up, you know, so because none of us can know what’s going to happen in the future, but at least if it’s there, you can rely on it, and sometimes knowing that it’s there can really ease your peace of mind. I think.

Christina King 25:11
Exactly, yeah, that’s kind of what I want. As I want that peace of mind, that if something were to happen, that there would be accommodations in place that I would be okay.

Amber Tresca 25:24
Right. And then, okay, let’s talk about even further ahead. Let’s talk about, you have gone through schooling, you’ve applied to nursing school, you’re accepted. You graduate nursing school. We’re gonna we’re gonna manifest it. We’re gonna put this out into the universe, put it out into the world, and now you’re entering into your career as a nurse. What are your thoughts on how you incorporate living with Crohn’s disease and having a career in nursing?

Christina King 25:52
I want to say my my biggest concern with that one is probably this, probably the same as it is now, with going in, with going to work, is being able to hold down a job for an extended period of time. I’ve heard stories of IBD patients who have had jobs, but they were laid off from their jobs because of their condition, because of their disease. So that, of course, makes me nervous, and also, as I’m sure you probably know, that nursing can be very stressful. Working in healthcare can be stressful. It can cause a lot of stress, and for a lot of IBD patients, that is a huge trigger, because I know it is. For me, when I’m stressed out, my body feels it like you start, it starts having effects on your body. And so that, of course, makes me nervous, is just being able to hold down the job.

Amber Tresca 27:02
Do you put anything into place in order to cope with stress? Do you have any techniques that help you when you start to feel stressed out about something?

Christina King 27:13
I basically just, I usually go for walks or something and listen to podcasts and yeah, that’s basically what I’ve been doing, like, to cope with stress, or whatever I’ve been doing that since I was in school. That’s basically my one coping mechanism.

Amber Tresca 27:35
I do similar, yeah, I’ll be like, guys, I gotta go for a walk.

Christina King 27:44
And everybody I know that my family is like that too, like they, they know, like when I’m stressed, they that’s what I do. Just go for a walk. I breathe, you know.

[MUSIC: Piano Interlude]

Amber Tresca 27:58
Coming up, Christina tells us how she educated herself about IBD.

Amber Tresca 28:16
Christina, you have been on a learning journey being still fairly newly diagnosed, you, unfortunately, were thrown right into the deep end and had to learn a lot right away about advocating for yourself and about how these diseases are diagnosed and treated. So I’m wondering, do you have any favorite resources? Where did you go to learn about Crohn’s disease or about IBD in general?

Christina King 28:46
Some of my favorite, my favorite resources is probably the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation, because they just, they have just amazing resources and information available for anyone, not even just IBD patients. So when I was first diagnosed, I of course, went on there and I came across some amazing resources and information. I found out more information on IBD, and was able to basically educate myself on the disease, because that was that was huge for me, was educating and make sure I knew, making sure I knew what this meant to live with IBD. I also came across this online support group, which is called stuff that works. Not sure if you’ve heard of them. I’ve never heard of it. No, it’s basically an online support group where you get to you basically gives you an opportunity to connect with other people that have the same conditions that you have. And so from the very beginning, I’ve always said that no one truly understands why. That someone with a chronic illness has to go through on a daily basis unless they’ve experienced it themselves, like they can tell you, like you can talk to anybody about it, and they could say to you, Oh, I understand, I understand how you feel, but they don’t. They don’t. They truly don’t, because they don’t know what it’s like. They have not experienced it themselves. And quite frankly, I I hope they don’t.

Amber Tresca 30:27
I hope they don’t 100% No, it’s not fun.

Christina King 30:32
You know? I know truly hope nobody has to experience it or has to go through what I went through, or even what you went through in the past. Yeah, getting to just, just getting that opportunity to hear other people’s story with IBD and hear about other people’s experiences, and getting to share my own has definitely helped me emotionally and mentally.

Amber Tresca 31:02
Sounds like that’s a secondary stress relieving technique, maybe a little bit that is a stress relieving connecting with community.

Christina King 31:08
Yeah, yeah.

Amber Tresca 31:09
I’m glad you found those resources. But I’m wondering, is there an Did you find enough available to you about entering into school or about entering into a career while living with Crohn’s disease, that you felt that you had the information to move forward. Sometimes I feel like maybe we could use more resources on that. What do you think?

Christina King 31:32
I agree. I agree. I don’t really think there’s many resources available to help with IBD patients. There should be more resources available to help kind of ease, ease your stress, and ease that stress and anxiety that patients feel with, not even with, not even going, not even just going into school, but going into the workforce as well, like because we’re not like other people. We’re really not, unfortunately, we’re just not. We’re not wired the same way. We’re different. And, yeah, we obviously need more accommodations than most people would in college or even in the workforce, like we just need more accommodations. And so I feel like having those, having those resources available, would be helpful.

Amber Tresca 32:33
Yeah, I think your perspective in particular, because you are so newly diagnosed and going through this pivotal phase in your life and having to make decisions based on a diagnosis that you didn’t expect, that your perspective here is really important, because anyone listening to this who is in a position to be able to help create resources can understand after listening to your journey and how you had to persevere and push to be able just to continue on to a very normal thing that people do, but which was inaccessible to you for a while, that you did not feel as supported as you wish you could have, and that we need more to help you and others like you be able to transition into your your post high school career and schooling and whatever that may might look like. Yeah. Christina, after we connected, I spent a little time on your Instagram. Wow, as I always do, to do research before I talk to somebody. I want to learn a little bit more. But I came across a real it was very sweet. And now I think it was from 2022, where you and maybe with a sibling, you planned a trip for your family. Am I getting that right? Can you tell me about that? What happened there?

Christina King 34:09
So, back in 2022 there was a Take Steps walk that happened in my area. That happened in it was in Harrisburg, and my family was actually my family, and I were actually invited to attend that walk. And so, yeah, that was a big opportunity for me, obviously, and it was a lot of fun getting to see other people with IBD. And, you know, seeing other people in my area with it, and being able to create this, I created, like a fundraiser for my team, because you have to register as a team. And so basically, that was my biggest thing, was raise. Raising awareness and raising money for Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. It was a very fun experience.

Amber Tresca 35:08
What are some of the emotions you came away with after attending that walk, mixing with other people who live with IBD, other families that are touched by the disease? I’m guessing also there’s usually some some doctors, medical professionals, other folks that are there. What did you feel when you came home that day and in the days afterward?

Christina King 35:31
I felt I felt like I wasn’t alone, like I finally felt like I wasn’t alone, that there were other people going through the same thing that I’m going through. So there were people that understood me, who understand what it’s like to live with IBD every single day. They understand what it’s like to experience it, which of course, when I was diagnosed, I didn’t think that, but I was the only one who was experiencing all this, who was going through all of it, and because I didn’t know anybody, I didn’t know anybody with Crohn’s disease or ulcer colitis, I didn’t know anything about it. I barely knew anything about it. So, yeah, I did. I felt very alone when I was first diagnosed, so that base, so that did help kind of give me that, that reassurance that you’re not alone in this journey, that there are other people out there, unfortunately, who are who experience immunosuppression, the same thing.

Amber Tresca 36:45
Well, Christina, I am so sorry for everything that you have experienced, but also two things can be true at the same time, but I am also so glad to have met you and connected with you and heard about your journey, because you have taught me a lot just in talking today, so I want to get some social media information from you so other people can connect with you. Where can we find you? On the on the interwebs?

Christina King 37:12
So my you could, you could find me on Instagram and even Snapchat. My Instagram handle is Christina underscore, King 227, my account is private, so you would have to send me a follow request, and I would have to accept it, but yeah, that’s probably my main social media platform, is Instagram.

Amber Tresca 37:38
And if you decide to do another, Take Steps walk, or are you do you think you’ll do that again?

Christina King 37:44
I think I will.

Amber Tresca 37:46
Yeah, so you’ll want to put that fundraising link right there on your Instagram.

Christina King 37:49
Yes, yes, just like I did back in 2022 and haven’t taken it down till just recently, even though you couldn’t access it for the longest time, like it was if you couldn’t access the link, but I still had it up on my social media, yeah,

Amber Tresca 38:07
So you have to renew that. Uh, what was the name of your team? By the way.

Christina King 38:12
The name of my team was Christina’s cronies. It was the king of crones. It was basically, it was a name that my I think it was a name that my dad came up with. My dad came up with, the king cronies. But I thought it was stupid. I thought that sounded stupid. I was like, no, no, I’m not naming my team, the king cronies. Like, that’s that sounds stupid, so I switched it up, and I switched it to Christina’s cronies, and then I put in parentheses the king of Croats. That was, like, we’re gonna compromise, so we’re gonna call we’re gonna call us that. Like, that’s gonna be our team name.

Amber Tresca 38:58
I love that. I love the alliteration with Christina’s cronies like that just kind of comes right out, like, that’s great. But I also love that you spared your dad’s feelings. You were able to find a compromise so that, hopefully everybody was happy with the team name.

Christina King 39:16
In the end, everybody was, everybody was happy with the theme name. Yeah, good. So I’m probably gonna keep it like that for a while for next time.

[Music: IBD Dance Party]

Amber Tresca 39:25
Yeah. Well, Christina, thank you so much for talking with me today and for sharing your journey. There are a lot of learnings from what you went through that I can’t even begin to untangle. It would there would be a whole other episode to go through. I think everything that went wrong in what happened to you, yeah, but I think that it, it is horrible that you went through that I wish you hadn’t, but there’s so much learning there that other. People can take away so that it doesn’t happen to someone else, and that maybe we can put systems and education in place to prevent that. Yeah. So thank you for sharing your journey. Thank you for connecting with me and gosh, I hope that the rest of your the rest of your journey through nursing school is smooth as anything, because you really deserve to have what you want and to go on to your chosen career.

Christina King 40:30
Thank you. I truly appreciate that, and it was it was a pleasure being on here and getting to share my journey. Thank you for having me. It was a lot of fun.

Amber Tresca 40:45
Hey, super listener.

Amber Tresca 40:46
Thanks to Christina King for reaching out to me and sharing her story. I know Christina will bring a deep knowledge of chronic illness and a strong sense of empathy to her future roles in nursing. Also, thanks to her mom for not only advocating for her so strongly, but also for one of the best zingers I’ve heard in a long time

Amber Tresca 41:05
As always, links to a transcript. Everyone’s social media handles, and more information on the topics we discussed is in the show notes and on my episode. 158 page on about ibd.com.

Amber Tresca 41:17
Thanks for listening, and remember until next time I want you to know more about IBD.

Amber Tresca 41:26

About IBD is a production of Mal and Tal Enterprises.

It is written, produced, and directed by me, Amber Tresca.

Mix and sound design is by Mac Cooney.

Theme music is from Cooney Studio. 

Christina King 41:40
Random question. I didn’t expect that.

Amber Tresca 41:43
Good!

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