1986 I quit smoking in Dec. and almost immediately started getting UC symptoms. It took more than a month to get a diagnosis and by them 1/2 my colon was involved. My boss thought I was doing drugs because I looked more like Keith Richards than a 24 year old guy. Spent the next 20 months on prednisone, a lot of the time at 50mg/day. One day in 1988 I blacked out, head first into the fireplace, so my girlfriend took me the hospital. After 2 weeks in hospital and the next 6 months at home my UC was still getting worse. Life sucked. One day I picked up one of her smokes and and that was it I was hooked again. But within a week my symptoms were gone and I was able to return to work a week later.
1994 my wife, who was 4 months pregnant, asked me to quit. I did. 2 weeks later my UC was back with a vengeance. 2 more weeks and I'm already in hospital with it. In for 2 weeks, out for 2 weeks, in 2, out 2 and in this time for surgery. I now have an S ileal pouch. The day I gout of hospital I had been sick for a few months, multiple blood transfusions, major surgery, my hair was falling out in handfuls and I was pretty much wiped out. My wife who was 8 months pregnant now ended up pushing me out the door in a wheelchair.
A month later my first son was born and two days after that I started a new job. Due to all of this I put off the closure surgery to 6 months later instead of 6 weeks. At first all seemed to go well with the ostomy, except for ne or two mishaps. But then I got some kind of infection in the skin around the ostoma site and the bag wouldn't stay on longer than a few hours. It got to me quite a challenge to stay at work for a whole day. After six months I had the closure surgery and all was well.
2001 I started getting bowel obstructions from the scar tissue. At first they were just really bad stomach cramps but within a year they were getting pretty bad. Over the next 8 years I had more obstructions than I can remember let alone count.
2009 I had another surgery to remove scar tissue and haven't had any blockages since then.
My biggest problem today is whenever I get the flu there is not a chance in hell of staying hydrated. I almost always end up in emergency to get treated for dehydration. The last time this happened was two weeks ago, Dec. 22 2012.
No matter what my pouch is way better than UC even after all the blockages and surgery.
1994 my wife, who was 4 months pregnant, asked me to quit. I did. 2 weeks later my UC was back with a vengeance. 2 more weeks and I'm already in hospital with it. In for 2 weeks, out for 2 weeks, in 2, out 2 and in this time for surgery. I now have an S ileal pouch. The day I gout of hospital I had been sick for a few months, multiple blood transfusions, major surgery, my hair was falling out in handfuls and I was pretty much wiped out. My wife who was 8 months pregnant now ended up pushing me out the door in a wheelchair.
A month later my first son was born and two days after that I started a new job. Due to all of this I put off the closure surgery to 6 months later instead of 6 weeks. At first all seemed to go well with the ostomy, except for ne or two mishaps. But then I got some kind of infection in the skin around the ostoma site and the bag wouldn't stay on longer than a few hours. It got to me quite a challenge to stay at work for a whole day. After six months I had the closure surgery and all was well.
2001 I started getting bowel obstructions from the scar tissue. At first they were just really bad stomach cramps but within a year they were getting pretty bad. Over the next 8 years I had more obstructions than I can remember let alone count.
2009 I had another surgery to remove scar tissue and haven't had any blockages since then.
My biggest problem today is whenever I get the flu there is not a chance in hell of staying hydrated. I almost always end up in emergency to get treated for dehydration. The last time this happened was two weeks ago, Dec. 22 2012.
No matter what my pouch is way better than UC even after all the blockages and surgery.