Comments on: Best Case Scenario

By: Brenda

Brenda — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 02:00:58 +0000

JM’s words here are encouraging. Thank you both for writing here about the positive side of things!! It helps. I am doing my best to be positive as I approach surgery in a little over two weeks. You’re right, Megan, the idea of things being in our control is just an illusion. And while it may be human to worry, there really is no need. I am so grateful to have found this online world of support. It means so much.

By: JM

JM — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 14:05:19 +0000

Megan,
Yes, my surgery was for UC (18+ years of it!). I’ve had a fully functioning j-pouch since May 2002, though the journey to get there started as I said almost seven years ago to the day. Apart from a couple of bouts of pouchitis, both cleared up very quickly with a course of Flagyl, I’ve had no problems whatsoever with my pouch. Indeed were it not for my scars and my charity work I probably wouldn’t even think about my illness and surgery.

By: Megan

Megan — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 13:50:08 +0000

thanks for sharing on this post. I use to really struggle with having fear about things I couldn’t control. Now, I understand 1) I can’t control anything and that control is a false pursuit, 2) As JM said, “the clarity” that situations are going to happen how they happen, but how I perceive them is what makes them okay or not. Seems so simple to say and literally took me years of anguish to understand. I guess better late than never

JM – you mentioned 7 years ago, was your surgery for UC? And now are you living with a jpouch or ileo? Sounds like you are living well these days?!

By: carter99

carter99 — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 04:56:59 +0000

This is a great write-up you’ve posted. I wish I could have read it before I went in for my first surgery. It’s so easy to look at the negative possibilities of surgery, in fact, it’s unhuman not too. However, if you can focus on the good, the best case scenario, it could really have an impact on your mental state.
I know I went back and forwarth between the positive and negative outcomes before ‘Round 1′…this reminds me of the old, “Glass is half full/empty” expression.

Carter

By: JM

JM — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 14:24:01 +0000

This rings a lot of bells with me. When I first found out I needed surgery, while not being particularly overjoyed I was fairly accepting of it. The curved ball came when I was offered the choice between a proctocolectomy with permanent end ileostomy and a restorative proctocolectomy. After looking into both surgeries I realized there were lots of potential complications and I ended up spending lots of time worrying about what if this went wrong or that went wrong and this made the decision that much harder. Eventually I realized that most people come through both surgeries quite successfully so I simply asked myself “Well, what if everything goes well?”, this gave me a completely new perspective on the surgery. It turned what had been a very difficult decision into a very easy one and changed my whole approach to the surgery. From that point on I never once thought about what could go wrong, only what I could do to ensure things went right. Almost seven years to the day since I made that decision I am so pleased to have had that moment of clarity.