Hello, mouthful eh.
In the words of my mother, I am a 'slack piece of s***!', quite happy to while away days on the couch watching Rachel Riley on Countdown (and then again on the +1 channel so I could pretend to know the answers - oh, it happened). Now for those of you thinking, Mom sounds like a wench, those are, in fact, my words and until 100 days ago, truer ones were never spoken. Because 100 days ago, I gave up smoking!
I had embarked on an unprecedented period of health: I was going to run 2-hour marathons, assail Everest on a pogo stick, and finally blow out all the candles on my damned birthday cake (December 7th - send presents). Unfortunately, 30 days later, I suffered my first and last flare-up of Ulcerative Colitis and found myself back on the couch.
After another couple of weeks of boys' room visit riddled countdown conundrums, I decided enough was enough and went to see my GP who then sent me on to the hospital. The diagnosis of UC came in the hospital and after a couple of weeks of failed medical treatment, the decision was made to cut me up.
I underwent a subtotal colectomy (I think that's right) on the 7th of January 2013 and have been back twice since for corrective surgery - one big tear on the stump and an adhesion. The last few months can definitely be said to have been a struggle for me, not helped of course by how unexpected this has all been. But I'm back home now - back in recovery (until J Pouch surgery) and hopefully, there won't be any more complications.
I think the strangest part about the whole experience so far is how not strange it all seems. My father had a permanent colostomy and so I have some familiarity with it, I'm not hung up on the body image side of things and it allows me to live my life. What's hard though is remembering that my body has been under major shock and that the best way to take steps forward is to sit my ass down. While I'm yearning to reach the summit on my pogo stick, I have to be content with a trip to the shop for a Mars Bar - but at least I can eat Mars Bars again and, all the other benefits that I will eventually reap aside, that alone would be worth it... because I love Mars Bars.
So that's about all for now. I should probably state here that if I end up publishing any more blogs, they are likely to be highly reiterative, nonsensical pieces of bag contents (you know the bag I mean) - I just like to vent from time to time. But if that's your bag, baby (stop me please), then please feel free to read and comment and just generally do what you like.
Here's to us! (But mostly me).
Sam.
In the words of my mother, I am a 'slack piece of s***!', quite happy to while away days on the couch watching Rachel Riley on Countdown (and then again on the +1 channel so I could pretend to know the answers - oh, it happened). Now for those of you thinking, Mom sounds like a wench, those are, in fact, my words and until 100 days ago, truer ones were never spoken. Because 100 days ago, I gave up smoking!
I had embarked on an unprecedented period of health: I was going to run 2-hour marathons, assail Everest on a pogo stick, and finally blow out all the candles on my damned birthday cake (December 7th - send presents). Unfortunately, 30 days later, I suffered my first and last flare-up of Ulcerative Colitis and found myself back on the couch.
After another couple of weeks of boys' room visit riddled countdown conundrums, I decided enough was enough and went to see my GP who then sent me on to the hospital. The diagnosis of UC came in the hospital and after a couple of weeks of failed medical treatment, the decision was made to cut me up.
I underwent a subtotal colectomy (I think that's right) on the 7th of January 2013 and have been back twice since for corrective surgery - one big tear on the stump and an adhesion. The last few months can definitely be said to have been a struggle for me, not helped of course by how unexpected this has all been. But I'm back home now - back in recovery (until J Pouch surgery) and hopefully, there won't be any more complications.
I think the strangest part about the whole experience so far is how not strange it all seems. My father had a permanent colostomy and so I have some familiarity with it, I'm not hung up on the body image side of things and it allows me to live my life. What's hard though is remembering that my body has been under major shock and that the best way to take steps forward is to sit my ass down. While I'm yearning to reach the summit on my pogo stick, I have to be content with a trip to the shop for a Mars Bar - but at least I can eat Mars Bars again and, all the other benefits that I will eventually reap aside, that alone would be worth it... because I love Mars Bars.
So that's about all for now. I should probably state here that if I end up publishing any more blogs, they are likely to be highly reiterative, nonsensical pieces of bag contents (you know the bag I mean) - I just like to vent from time to time. But if that's your bag, baby (stop me please), then please feel free to read and comment and just generally do what you like.
Here's to us! (But mostly me).
Sam.
