i haven't posted anything in a long while, you know when things are good there really isn't much to say, so i suppose that's a good thing ;) its amazing to me that its already been a year since my surgery. It feels like a millions years ago, honestly it really feels like it never happened I can't describe how incredible my body feels. I'm more healthy than I have ever been in my entire life and whats better is I feel so alive. for a very long time, as I'm sure you can relate, I was like a captive to my disease. I could hardly get off the couch, god i could hardly get through a movie without going to the bathroom multiple times, forget anything else. Since the surgery I've hiked Moab twice, gone on a week long road trip across the southern US, hiked a 14er (8 hours w/o a bathroom!)been rock climbing many times and tomorrow I'm boarding a plane to thailand. I never would have done any of this while I was sick I never would have thought I would be able to. but now its not even a second thought. Of course i'm not "normal" so I do have to think about special considerations when i do things but who cares because the point is I can DO things!
at a certain point, after being sick for so long and dealing with it for so long you begin to think going to the bathroom 25 times a day is normal. its not normal! and you know while being sick i feel like i lost myself. like the woman i was 2 years ago, fun, spontaneous, alive, I couldn't be her because there was just energy and plus i was always worried about having to go to the bathroom, no way i could have gone for a walk, much less a hike. now that i don't have to worry about those same things again i have been able to rediscover who i am and what healthy feels like.
Let me tell you healthy feels great. there are still some days where I don't feel amazing, but usually by the next morning I feel back to normal. really as long as you watch what you eat and notice how it makes you feel, you can avoid having really bad days. I'm pretty chicken when it comes to adding new foods to my diet, but really even on a bad day, its really not THAT bad. I have noticed bleeding every now and then, but the dr tells me its perfectly normal, so nothing to worry about there. I have yet to experience pouchitis, though I really thought I did have it once (I discovered the hard way not to eat ice cream!) but i didn't. The studies say taking VSL#3 is supposed to help with pouchitis. I've been taking it since the beginning, twice a day, and haven't had it yet. I'm not religious about it I do forget sometimes but still, no problems with my pouch. That was the one thing I was most afraid of pre surgery, that I would have all of this done to my body only it have it somehow fail just like every other treatment, but that's simply not how it works. Because it isn't a treatment, it really is the cure. Now I'm not advocating surgery over any other method. Believe me, I would rather have a healthy, working colon any day. But this has been what's worked for me and all i can say is i don't regret this decision at all. No matter what my hesitations were, fear, skepticism, everyday i wake up and know i made the right choice for me.
as for the good stuff ;)... I'm in the bathroom about 5-6 times a day and once most nights, but not all. I'm down to just 4 lomotil a day (I could have probably decreased sooner but like i said I'm a chicken.)there was a time where I felt a big plateau and that I would be stuck at about 8times a day but you just gotta keep telling yourself that its a process and a long one at that. Maybe from one day to the next you may not notice any difference but over a week or two, you'll start to notice you feel better. For example, the time between when i finish eating and when i have to use the bathroom is getting greater and greater. This is HUGE. I used eat and have to go to the bathroom as soon as I was done, now its like 3, 4 hours sometimes. 6 times may seem like a lot, of course anyone dealing with UC knows thats nothing!, but 6, even 8 or 9 is manageable you just have to pay attention to your body. I just started grad school and I was worried about being on campus and having to use the bathroom and all of that but I've learned how to accomodate it all, when to eat, how ot time that to fit with the class break. you know you learn how to make it all work together so you can do the things you want to do. and you should do them now that you can!
When I see the dr its just a quick check up, they feel my belly ask how i feel and thats about it. No getting personal if you know what i mean ;)unless they think there may be a problem based on what i said they leave my bum alone. and the need to see the dr has tapered off as well. at a year post surgery I'm down to seeing them once a month. in about 2 years i think I'll have a colonoscopy or something similar so they can see what it all looks like, but other than that the whole recovery at this point is minimally invasive. I rarely think about it and that feels great!
No comments:
Post a Comment