J-pouch Life

I had my post-op appointment Friday over at UCSF. My surgeon saw me as I came in through the hallway and said hi, so my natural reaction was to impress her with an impromptu Irish jig. My reasoning at the time was to show her I’m perfectly healthy (note my joyous footwork!) and am so [...]

It’s been exactly a month since the divorce. To clarify: Divorcing from my colon. My colon doesn’t phone, it doesn’t even write letters to me. I guess it’s over. The break-up was pretty bad I suppose, considering they had to sedate me for all the pain. So here we are a month later and I [...]

After receiving an interesting letter from my new GI yesterday, I’ve found myself in a rather contemplative mood.  I was diagnosed with unquestionable serious UC when I was 16.  The GI who diagnosed me recommended immediate surgery to remove the colon.  I declined, preferring instead to take meds for years and try my hand at [...]

May 11th. That’s my surgery date. Now I know what you are thinking: “But Brevin, you accredited rocket scientist slash professional gunslinger, isn’t the Lost Season 5 Finale on May 13th?” Why yes, yes it is, but my priorities are shifting around. May 11th also gives me enough time to plan everything I need to [...]

Mark’s Step 1 surgery was a laproscopic total proctocolectomy with ileoanal reservoir reconstruction (a jpouch) with a temporary loop ileostomy until the jpouch heals (‘takedown’ is 2nd surgery).   Step 1 was done in early July 2007 and he was in the hospital for 5 days .  Thankfully, he experienced no complications from this major [...]