Since my last blog post over a month ago now, so many things have happened. I've started a new part time job, as well as getting involved with volunteering at Great Ormond Street Hospital, University College Hospital and St John's Ambulance. I'm enjoying my degree and approaching the end of term (and exams - yikes!) with a mix of fear and excitement. I go out a lot with friends, and I've even been back on the dating scene.
I'm back to hiking of course - one of my greatest loves!
There's just a couple of things I can't eat - mushrooms and oranges are the only things I've had to blacklist - but other than that, life is absurdly and wonderfully normal. I very occasionally have some minimal night leakage, but I don't really care - depending on what/what time I've eaten I can kinda tell if this is gonna happen. If I then take Loperamide before bed, it always stops it. I go to the loo 4-5 times per day, if that. I don't take any medication at all - only Loperamide if I'm staying over at a friend's house or going away. Even if I need the loo, I can hold it for hours if I need to - 6 hours, or more?
I never go out thinking about where a toilet will be, because chances are, I won't need it. I never have 'butt burn' anymore, even eating spicy things, and don't need to carry any special creams/wipes around with me. I wear tight fitting clothes without the need for any spandex (like I did in my stoma days) and I'm back to wearing low-slung jeans.
I can't tell you how happy I am with making the decision to go ahead and have a J-pouch made. When I first had my colon removed as an emergency back in January 2014, it seemed like the end of the world. Now, it feels like I've gone back to before having UC at all, which is a complete miracle. I don't consider myself to have IBD - I don't consider myself to be 'ill' at all. I don't have to adapt my life in any way to having a pouch - I go about my day just the same as every other healthy person my age.
Surgery is an option that terrifies so many people, and I understand I've been very fortunate in my outcome. Everybody is different, but for me, J-pouch life is absolutely fantastic. The internet is absolutely full of J-pouch 'scare stories', and there's lots of people I've spoken to who've been put off having the reversal surgery and stick with a stoma for life. Yes - this surgery is not for everyone. The operations to get to this stage are pretty huge, and I still don't forget the really scary experience I had when I bled out after op 2. J-pouches don't always work, and I suppose you're taking a bit of a gamble, but the odds are quite considerably in your favour - 95% of pouchies are satisfied with their pouch, and only 10% of pouches ever fail, most of these immediately after surgery. At the time, I just wasn't ready to live with a stoma for the rest of my life, and wanted to give pouch life a shot. And I'm just so glad I did.
Life is back to normal - and sweet as strawberries, lol!
I'll still be updating my blog from time to time, but to tell the truth, there really isn't much more to report. I'm back to normal, and absolutely loving life. Things really could not be better. If someone had asked me this time whether I'd ever forget about having UC, I'd have given them an angry 'NO WAY', as the disease (or something related to it) was on my mind pretty much every day. Now, it's all becoming a distant memory, and life's moving on.
