J-pouch Life

I am in the planning phases of the second surgery so I thought I’d share a little bit about what’s going on. Most of my life is currently revolving around getting my PhD proposal completed before I have my surgery. Everyone is being very helpful in supporting this process. I feel it will be much [...]

Things have been quite the rollercoaster ride lately but I finally got some good news!  I have been waiting since October to find out if I have Crohn’s in addition to UC, in which case the surgeon would not be willing to do the J-Pouch surgery.  After 3 opinions, it was determined that I don’t [...]

I’ve found that there are two things that have made me feel better lately, so I thought I’d pass them along. First of all, going back to the gym has been really fantastic for me.I was initially leery of going for four reasons: (1) the thought of getting changed at the gym was extremely stressful; [...]

I’ve been having serious problems with hair loss. This may be even more of an issue for me because of my post-surgery disaster but I believe a lot of people do experience some hair loss with surgery or malnutrition. My hair is finally starting to grow back after 5 months, but I was pretty close [...]

  Since I’m a researcher by trade, I’ve been thinking about how research can help others who are going through, or anticipating going through, surgery for UC. I’m currently in alone in a hotel room in Quebec City (poor me – I’m here for a conference) and so have decided to take advantage of the [...]

I’m finally getting around to posting again after dealing with some new issues (Positive: returning to work full-time and going back to the gym. Negative: unforeseen financial ramifications from being sick and my first appointment with the j-pouch surgeon where I was told it’s not clear that I don’t also have Crohn’s, so the OK [...]

I think many people feel a natural inclination toward not wanting to bother other people, to put them out of their way, to cause them any inconvenience. Being sick has changed this inclination somewhat. Perhaps some of you reading this post do not have UC yourself but are close to someone who does and you [...]

Time to put some of that psychology book-learnin’ to work! Coping is an area where I’ve done some research (primarily in regards to coping with cancer) and is certainly something I’ve thought about lots over the last few months. I’ve gotten lots of comments regarding my lack of complaining and generally upbeat attitude through the [...]