The pessimistic optimist

I’m not by nature an optimist; Optimism was never the go to position for my family. Growing up as a Manchester City football supporter in the 80’s sealed my fate as the glass half empty sort of chap. As well as my boundless pessimism, I also have the misfortune of being dyslexic, with a particular problem with the letters B and D. The Irony is not lost on the fact that I have a condition that fits neatly under the banner of “IBD”

What’s a dyslexic pessimist got to do with a blog about Crohn’s Disease and using IBDoc? Well, I’m just pointing out that we’re all human, full of faults. But tech doesn’t care if I’m dyslexic, or if I’m having a bad day (yet) or if I’m anxious about the state of my Crohn’s. It’s prime function is to offer me a result, a line in the sand. What the result translates to me is, consistency, legitimacy and most importantly peace of mind.

So in reference to blog three, IBDoc is easy to use and reliable and on this month’s particular occasion I opened the now familiar cartridge and followed the instructions as usual, after applying the sample to the test cassette I was then ready to hit the twelve minute timer within the app, but  – oh no – I couldn’t? I haven’t? I didn’t?

I’d somehow managed to log myself out of the App. Luckily, I had my login details to hand, but that’s the point I nearly messed up and it’s a cautionary note for future users to have that stuff to hand just in case, as we are the ones likely to make the error not the tech.

So, having reflected on my experience of this tech, I think both the hardware and software application are truly outstanding, which is reflected in its ease of use and consistency, particularly in context of Crohn’s disease, which always seems to be in a state of flux.

So what were these latest, nearly lost to human error results?

The results were, less dramatically, within the same range as the last three tests, which for reference is between 70ug/g and 115ug/g. Having the tech to test my Calprotectin levels over the course of Christmas and a recent holiday, with all the eating out and occasional afternoon tea. I can conclude the monthly Vedolizumab infusions are having quite a profound effect on keeping my Crohn’s in check. My consultant giving me his consent to trial IBDoc back in October 2017, and at my last appoint in late February 2018, my GI was very interested to learn of the results from four months of using IBDoc and appears happy to see my Calprotectin levels below 200ug/g.

We are living in an age where tech can offer the end user so many possibilities, no matter how flawed the end user happens to be. So I am beginning to see IBDoc is genuinely offering me an almost real time monitoring of my disease. And that’s a bold statement for a pessimist.

Please feel free to ask any questions or leave feedback.