As of late July 2015, I have been working at home in Pittsburgh. I was lucky enough to have returned home in time for my local Crohn’s and Colitis chapter’s Take Steps event, which is an awareness walk for those with Irritable Bowel Diseases (IBD’s) where money raised goes toward research. Early in my senior year, I met someone in my college, Zane Geist, who was dealing with Crohn’s disease. It was awesome to know someone battling just like I was and have someone to talk to who would understand the sometimes more unpleasant parts of a conversation about IBD. We put together a fundraising effort for our Take Steps “team” and ended up raising over $300 from members of our college as well as family members.
Hopefully having made it past the worst of this disease, I want to continue being involved with my local chapter and spread awareness about IBD’s. That is the reason I am writing this. I have never really been shy about sharing my experiences, but now I am more ready than ever to voice those experiences in hopes that it reaches someone dealing with the hardships of an IBD so they can see that a little perseverance can go a long way!
When my symptoms went into relapse at the start of my senior year of college, I got down on myself because I didn’t understand how this could be happening to me during what I considered the most important time of my life, a time when I needed to figure out my future with either a job or grad school. Seeing where I am in my life now though, I’ll say in a heartbeat that I was quite stubborn because every day should be treated as importantly as the day before. I honestly consider these surgeries as miracles in my life and am out to take nothing in life for granted. Every day I wake up without pain or hardship, I consider a blessing.
For the first few years, it was quite frustrating when doctors couldn’t give me concrete answers about my symptoms, but you can’t go feeling sorry for yourself. You just have to pick yourself up and try to move forward as best as you can with whatever energy you have that day. Believe me, I’ve been through the lowest of lows, but keeping a positive mindset through it all can open doors that lead to the highest of highs, which I certainly experienced.
It has been a humbling experience so far and I say “so far” because it’s an adventure where I will continue to compile experiences for the rest of my life.
Now to the main point of this post, I completed another successful surgery on December 14, 2015. This surgery was to create a J-pouch, a reservoir formed by folding loops of the small intestine back on themselves (to look like a “J”) and stapling them together where the diameter is now twice the size of the regular intestine itself. The internal walls are then removed to make the actually pouch/reservoir.
My height provided a slight road block as I had just enough intestinal length to make the connection with my anus. Otherwise, in mind-blowing fashion, the surgery was a success. This is just a temporary stage to allow time for the new connections to properly heal before stool flows through them, so I still have an ostomy. The part used for the ostomy is not the end of my small intestine anymore as that’s a part of the J-pouch now. Farther up my small intestine is being used, which means the nutrients and fluids I intake exit my body even quicker than before, so dehydration is a very real problem I face all the time. I am constantly drinking water and Gatorade, even in the middle of the night when I wake up to empty my ostomy. Pedialyte has been a regular component of my diet to make sure I’m always replenishing my electrolytes.
Recovery was about the same for this surgery. One week in the hospital and one at home before I went back to work. Luckily, it was right around the holidays so my first full work week wasn’t until 3 weeks after surgery. I was back playing soccer a month after surgery, which is a testament to my youth, I presume. As much as it sucks I was affected with this disease so early in my life, a positive light that can be shed on the whole situation is that is has surely benefitted me in terms of my speedy recoveries.
My final surgery is scheduled for March 3, 2016, a day I am already counting down the days to, so I plan on making another post around that time.
slowly becoming my old self again. I was getting back to playing sports and exercising and most importantly, didn’t have to worry about where the closest bathroom was at all times.
preciousness of life. Every day is a gift and I try to respect that fact in everything I do.
The rest of the semester finished out great. My friends and I were able to do most of the things we loved doing together one last time. Come early May 2015, with graduation only a few days away, I had just secured a job upon graduation in Boston and couldn’t have been happier. So happy I made sure my ostomy got some of the limelight as I got a few graduation pictures with it wearing my tassel. We had done it! A few nights later, in what I’d argue as one of the proudest moments of my life so far, I walked to accept my diploma with many of my closest friends and classmates. It was truly an amazing achievement, something I didn’t totally believe was 100% possible when I left for home on that November 4, 2014 afternoon.
The Ulcerative Colitis Chronicles 