Tag: crohns and colitis uk

Coffee Morning!

I went to a Crohn’s & Colitis UK coffee morning today with my mum. It was good to meet new people, we talked a lot but there’s never enough time to speak to everyone. I hope to go to the next one near me though. I met someone who has had a jpouch for around ten years now, and I spoke to someone who came with their mum (like me) and who both have Crohn’s. A couple of them were also at the IBD open day last weekend too. I’ve always thought that these meet-ups are a good idea, they give you somewhere to talk freely and feel safe, as well as being part of a community that understands and doesn’t judge because they’ve been there. I know they’re not for everyone but I enjoy it.

In other news, I saw my surgeon last week and he’s very happy with how I’m doing. He said he doesn’t want to do anything now for at least another year, which is fine by me (two surgeries is more than enough for this year, thank you very much). He said I’ve got three options though; 1) I can have my stoma closed and try the jpouch again, 2) I can have my jpouch & rectum removed, a permanent end ileostomy formed and have a barbie-butt, or, 3) I can stay as I am with jpouch & rectum intact and loop-ileostomy. I am quite content to stay as I am for now, but eventually, I will want to go for option 2; permanent stoma and barbie-butt. I don’t want to go back to the jpouch because not only is it ulcerated, but I still have the perforation near the entrance, both of which make me not want to risk it failing again and having to have yet another surgery. I could stay as I am indefinitely but I think I’ll always feel like it’s not finished and I just want this to be sorted once and for all.

So, that’s it for now. Work is going well and I feel able to do more things and for longer. My appetite has returned with avengence so I’m eating like a horse at the moment. My weight is very slowly increasing so all good from where I’m sitting.

IBD open day & a work update

I went to an IBD information open day today at my local hospital. There were lots of resources for patients as well as their friends and family, and the talks covered things like exercise, research, diet and the hospital’s IBD helpline. Even though I know a lot about my disease already, I still found it informative and interesting. There wasn’t much time for networking or socialising but it was still good to be there among those who suffer as well and those who are helping make it bearable.

Next week, I’m going to a Crohn’s & Colitis UK coffee morning meet up. I haven’t been to one for a while so I’m looking forward to seeing how everyone is doing. Although I don’t feel I “know” any of the regulars at the meet-ups, I still feel some sort of connection because we have this disease in common.

As for how I am doing, I feel my recovery is going well. I went back to work three weeks ago and it’s going well so far; I’ve a gradual return, with my first week consisting of one and a half weeks because I had a week of annual leave straight after. The second week was two full days but they were easy as it was quiet and there wasn’t as much to do. This last week I worked four days with a day off in the middle to give me time to rest. I have found getting back into it easier than I thought and there are only a couple of minor adjustments I need at the moment. These adjustments are mostly regarding my ability to aid a disabled patient, specifically mobility aid users, as I can’t push a wheelchair nor support another person due to my stomach muscles still healing. This is to protect both me as well as the patient as if I am unable to support someone and they fall, I can’t help them back up again. It’s frustrating because I hate how I am not able to help my patients the way I should. Still, this is only temporary for me and I know eventually I will get better. I am for the forseeable future going to keep wearing my support belt as it helps prevent muscle pains during my work day.

As for my diet, it’s great; consisting of lots of bread, crisps, chicken, potato and chocolate. I’m not underweight but I’m on the lower end for my height so it wouldn’t hurt for me to put some back on. Plus, I’m almost always hungry so snacking is a good thing as far as I’m conscerned. This need to snack does pose a slight issue with my work though as I only get one break during the day and, no, unfortunately I can’t split it due to task assignment. I may have to start stashing snacks in various places so I can eat when it’s quiet.

Anyway, that’s all for now. Hopefully, I’ll have more to share over winter with the cold weathers effects on stoma bags etc, as well as the perils of Christmas dinner. Thank you for reading!

Travelling with a J-Pouch part 2

As mentioned in my previous post, I travelled for around 5 hours on several trains to visit my sister earlier last week. The outward journey was fine with no issues when it came to needing the bathroom. The home-bound journey, however, was a little different because at the halfway point I started getting spasms. Thankfully, I was able to hold off needing to “go” until we reached London Waterloo station where we had about a 4omin wait for our train.

Ah, the Waterloo toilets. Another thing I wanted to mention in this post as they have… changed. Don’t get me wrong, not having to hunt through pocket fluff for 20p in order to do your business is wonderful, especially for people with IBD and similar conditions, but I can’t help but notice that the cleanliness of these toilets has dropped somewhat. There was a very strong smell as you approached that only got worse when you got inside, and they just seemed generally unclean. There was signage mentioning a plumbing issue so maybe that was the reason? I don’t travel to London enough to know but I do hope they can sort out whatever issues they are having and return the facilities to a more appealing state. I realise my complaints may seem a bit superficial but I am genuinely concerned about the spreading of infections like c.diff. I do not want to get that again as it was one of the reasons my colon had to be removed, and I don’t want to risk my jpouch failing.

On a lighter note, it seems that Nottingham has embraced Crohn’s & Colitis UK’s “Not Every Disability is Visible” campaign by putting up signage on all of their accessible rest rooms (or at least all the ones I saw anyway). I’ve started taking pictures of the supportive signs when I can so I can spread awareness on my instagram. It always makes me smile when I see the new signs.

It’s day 6 of Crohn’s and Colitis Awareness Week, and I give you the first of my (poorly drawn) infographics about stomas.

“Stoma Facts!
Did you know… Stomas appear to dance. Yes, they move around on their own, therefore, giving the appearance they are dancing.”