Tag: ibd

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.”

Crohn’s & Colitis Awareness Week 2017

So, here is a link to the video of me changing my bag. There is a (very) small poop warning for this video so please don’t watch if you find this sort of thing uncomfortable.

Also, sorry if it takes a while to load, the file is too big for Tumblr. If it doesn’t load, please feel free to watch it on my Facebook page.

Happy Crohn’s & Colitis Awareness Week, everyone!

Crohn’s & Colitis Awareness Week 2017

I’ve got my next consultation with my surgeon in April 2018. I’m not sure how I feel about that; I was anxious about starting the reversal process at first, but now I just want to get it over with. I’m hoping that whatever is wrong with my liver will be easily treatable and not interfere with my surgeries.

Liver update

I saw my surgeon again this morning. He wants to postpone any plans for pouch surgery until after I have seen the liver specialist in January. He’s ordered an MRI scan for after that appointment and then I’ll see my surgeon again in March. I’m not overly happy about having to wait even longer but I’d rather get things sorted with my liver to reduce possible complications during surgery.

The CT scan showed nothing cancerous but it’s possible I have a form of liver disease thats linked to Ulcerative Colitis. I don’t remember exactly what he called it but, according to Google, it might be Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis (PSC), but I’m not sure.

Travelling with a stoma, part 2

So I went to Lincoln (which is about 200 miles-ish north from where I live) to visit family over the weekend. We travelled by car, which is usually a 4-5 hour journey. It was the first time I’ve travelled in a car for any real length of time since getting baggie so I had some concerns about having to make extra stops as well as the position of the seat belt. As it turned out, we didn’t have to make extra stops because my stoma was thankfully very inactive for most of the journey. Also, because it’s getting pretty cold now, I had a thick coat on which kept the seat belt away from my stomach.

As for supplies, I did my usual and packed more than I needed, just in case. We were only there for three nights, which meant two changed for me, but I still brought an extra bag in case something happened.

I didn’t run into any issues with baggie over the weekend aside from the cold causing my muscles to ache a little. Other than that, I had a great weekend.

I know this isn’t really anything to do with IBD but I wanted to wish everyone a fun and safe Halloween. I’ve been watching (non-scary) movies and eating pizza and sweets all evening. Scares aren’t really my thing but I love this time of year regardless. I also love playing with Snapchat filters. 🎃

Sorry for a lack of updates

I’ve been pretty busy recently; I started counselling last week to try and help with a few things I’ve been struggling with recently. My first session I didn’t think went so well because my therapist seemed a bit uncaring and disinterested because I scored low on the risk assessment. I thought I’d give it one more try before asking to change therapists and I’m glad I did; today’s session went much better because we went through some things (not everything) in depth and she seemed a lot more interested in what I had to say. She even gave some advice on something I’ve been struggling with for a while now but haven’t been able to talk about. I hope these sessions will be helpful in the long run but I guess it’s still early days.

In other news, I’m going to visit family up north this weekend which I’m hoping will help relieve some stress. It’s going to be cold but I’m prepared for that; I know the cold can make my stomach muscles hurt so I’ll be bringing a load of heat pads and my hot water bottle with me.

I hope everyone is having a safe Halloween.