Welcome to UCVlog.com! Here you will find TONS of information about living with inflammatory bowel disease, living with an ostomy, and living with a J-Pouch. Take it from two young people who have been through it all and aren’t afraid to share their stories.
Donate Ostomy Supplies to Haiti!
If you have any unused/new ostomies supplies that you no longer need, send them to somebody who does! The people of Haiti need our help.
Often in the past, my local ostomy support group has gathered and collected new/unused ostomy supplies and has sent them to Haiti to patients with ostomies. We take collections once a month and periodically ship to a facility in Haiti to distribute these medical supplies. NOW YOU CAN HELP! If you have unused/new ostomy supplies or any other medical supplies please send them in care of me. And I will ensure they get to the people of Haiti who need them! We will be taking ongoing donations, so at anytime we will be happy to receive your new leftover supplies.
Your stoma size may have changed, allergies to flanges may have developed, trying different companies for the perfect fit are many reasons for those extra supplies you may have. These unused and no longer needed supplies can be shipped to third world countries such as Haiti who have little or no ostomy equipment. Following the horrific earthquake in Haiti, many people are left with nothing. Just think of all the people we can help! Haiti was in need so much before this earthquake, but even more now.
So, if you are interested in donating, you can ship your unused supplies in care of Nadia Deane to:
Image By Fuad
1232 Red Maple Road
De Pere, WI 54115 USA
If you have any questions about this donation program you can email me at Nadia@UCVlog.com
“In helping others, we shall help ourselves, for whatever good we give out completes the circle and comes back to us.”
~Flora Edwards
For all of you who plan to donate, I will say a huge THANK YOU!
~Nadia
Here’s a fun little video of nursing students rapping about ostomies. The video’s not the best quality but the rap is kind of funny and good for a laugh or two.
Keep fighting,
~Dennis
When suffering from Crohn’s, Ulcerative Colitis, or any other IBD related illness, diet becomes a key component in trying to lessen the symptoms. Each individual can find a diet that may work. Others, like myself, cannot find a diet that will help completely. I tried numerous diets and although they offered relief, it was only temporary as my disease was too progressive for diet to impact me significantly. One that was semi-successful for me was the SCD diet. It restricts the use of complex carbohydrates, and it eliminates refined sugar, gluten, and starch. VERY STRICT! There are various cook books available with a wide variety of foods that stay within the confines of this diet. Surprisingly it was yummy! What was your diet like before, during, and after surgery? My video covers all three aspects. If you would like to share what diet works best for you, leave me a comment!!
“Laughter is brightest where food is best.”
~ Irish Proverb
~Nadia
Blogging about blogging? Yes, this is the topic of my new C3Life.com blog. Specifically, how to write a medical blog. I’ve known many people who have struggled with their IBD for years and now want to tell their story to a wider audience online. However, many people don’t know how to get a blog started or how to write one.
I hope to provide some direction in this area. This first blog only tells part of the story; there will be more blogs in the future about the ins and outs of medical blogging.
Keep fighting,
~Dennis
It’s amazing sometimes what technology and collaboration can produce. Improve Care Now is a collaborative effort between health care professionals to help kids with Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. Basically, GI offices around the country have signed on to the program and share with each other medical information about their patients, recording what happens during patient visits and documenting how patients are treated. Currently the program collects data from over 2,000 children. Every month, the data is synthesized and helps health care professionals notice trends and advances in treatment plans.
Additionally, doctors and nurses can share their successes with treating the disease with others. The bottom line: for patients enrolled in this program, remission rates have risen by as much as 20%, and overall patient care in other areas has increased as well. Find out more about their successes here.
Based on their current results, Improve Care Now believes that if every child with IBD was part of the program, 10,000 kids would be in remission, not because of the creation of a new drug, but because medical professionals are sharing information and strategies that work to treat IBD.
Check out their video below.
Keep fighting,
~Dennis
Hey Everyone! I am joining Dennis as we both found that our mission is so similar, that seperately we are doing fine, but together we can do great things. In the IBD community it is important to raise awareness as we all fight each day. So, this collaboration is such a positive force to accomplishing that goal. Some of the information in this introduction video is repeat from some of my past videos but for those of you who do not know me, it gives you a brief glimpse into the life of Nadia and my struggle. When I first became ill, I struggled a lot, not only physically, but emotionally as well, but over the course of the last three years, I have shed a lot of my embarrassment and have opened myself up to being comfortable with myself and my disease. So many hospitalizations, not only because of my Crohn’s colitis, but the complications CC caused, took over my life. I never lose faith and I will get well. Thank you for this wonderful opportunity, Dennis and the UC community!! An interesting fact I found out the other day was that an elephant eliminates up to 300 pounds of waste a day (the most of any living creature).. Some days I feel like I run a close second place to the elephant.. Just sayin’ Anyways, Take care.
You can always contact me with questions at Nadia@UCVlog.com
“Never talk defeat. Use words like hope, belief, faith, victory” ~Norman Vincent Peale
Your Friend,
Nadia
Everybody, I would like to announce that my good friend Nadia is now an official contributor to UCVlog.com!
I met Nadia over a year ago, I think, as we were both starting to make videos about our experiences. She has Crohn’s colitis, I have ulcerative colitis, but we both went through surgery to remove our colons at roughly the same time.
What struck me as refreshing about Nadia’s videos were always how informative, inspirational, and professional they were. I’ve seen a lot of videos about IBD this past year and a half, and Nadia’s videos are hands down at the very top.
I’ll let her tell you more about herself, but she has gone through so much since getting diagnosed with Crohn’s about three years ago. And through it all, her attitude remains positive and she always has a smile on her face.
Nadia has more medical knowledge than me, is more inspiring and optimistic than me, and has a greater perspective on life than me. She’s really great, and hopefully in the coming days and weeks and months you’ll get to know her better. She will provide great perspectives from both the women’s side and the Crohn’s side.
She’ll be posting videos like me and anything else she finds interesting. When you get a chance, email her at Nadia@UCVlog.com and introduce yourself!
Keep fighting,
~Dennis
Everybody who has spent just a little bit of time on this site know that I went through surgery to have my colon removed and I have generally been pleased and satisfied with the results. However, I don’t believe that everybody with IBD needs or should have surgery. There is something to be said for controlling IBD with medicine as well.
So which is better, medicine vs. surgery? I get asked this sometimes and really, it depends on what kind of lifestyle you want to live. There are risks and benefits to both options. Hopefully through this vlog you will get the information you need to make a better decision.
Keep fighting,
~Dennis
Frequently because of IBD, we have to pause life while we take care of flare ups, hospital visits, and surgeries. However, few of us will reach the point when everything is behind us and we can “really start living now.” Despite the setbacks IBD gives us, it’s important to keep our lives going and living as much as we can.
That’s the subject of this week’s C3Life blog entry.
Keep fighting,
~Dennis
Hey everybody, excuse me while I brag a little. This week the total video views for all of the UCVlog videos and translated videos broke the 200,000 mark! For this, I have to thank all of your loyal fans, especially those of you who’ve claimed to have watched all my videos. I really appreciate the support you show for this site.
What’s really amazing is that it took 10 months to break the 100,000 mark, but only 5 months to break the 200,000 mark! Do you think we can make 350,000 before the site’s two year anniversary? I think we can.
Here’s another interesting statistic: if all 200,000 of those videos had been fully watched (I can only hope for that but I know some people get bored and don’t finish a video), it would take over 857 days to watch every video back to back!
If you have any video ideas for me about topics you’d like to see covered in the future, as always, send me an email or reply to this post.
Keep fighting,
~Dennis
P.S. Big announcement Monday, February 1 regarding this site.
