Your working life is an important part of managing your colitis. Not only is work important to earn money to pay for medical bills, and is important especially to keep your health insurance, but I believe work is actually necessary to healing properly. I’ve gone through several fluctuations of being in work and not being in work, and I have to say, the ability to work goes a long way in healing both physically and mentally.
Keep fighting,
~Dennis
If you’ve read about life post-takedown surgery, you’ve probably heard of this concept. Once you start using your j-pouch, you will quickly have burning and irritation around your butt. This is a problem that comes and goes depending on circumstances, but is worse more in the beginning of j-pouch life.
This video describes how I deal with the burning.
Keep fighting,
~Dennis
Question: For the j-pouchers, do you have problems with burning and how do you take care of it?
This is a continuation of what I was like before surgery. The first video, “My Condition Before Surgery” deals with my physical condition. This video, “My Ignorance Before Surgery” deals with my mental condition.
I certainly didn’t know as much as many of my viewers now know before their surgeries.
Keep fighting,
~Dennis
Question: For those who have had surgery, what did you know or what didn’t you know before your surgery? Reply to this post!
Hey everybody, I just wanted to let you know that the collective video views of my 80+ videos just surpassed the 50,000 mark yesterday! It has only taken six and half months since releasing my first video to reach this goal. The success of this vlog goes back to all of you, my viewers. I cannot thank you enough for watching my videos, passing them on to others, and most importantly, contacting me and telling me your story. I have talked to so many people through this project and I appreciate every one of those conversations.
Help me reach my goal of surpassing the 100,000 mark by September 30 this year. I think we can do it. If you peruse Crohn’s and colitis forums or message boards, post a link back to my videos or even post one of my videos right in the forum if you are able to. All of my videos have embed codes next to them on YouTube, allowing you to easily pass them around the internet.
If you have your own website, give me a shout and tell me where it’s at. I’m willing to tell everybody about your site if you let me know where to find it.
And most importantly, if you have found this site useful and think others would find it useful, talk to your local GI doctor or ostomy nurse or surgeon about getting the United Colon Vlog into your hospital. I’m able to send you printed materials free of charge as long as you bring them into your clinic. Visit this page for more information.
Keep fighting,
~Dennis
This video is for everybody considering surgery. It’s sometimes hard to know if your condition is “bad enough” to have surgery. This video describes where I was before surgery. Some might listen to my testimony and think I wasn’t very sick at all, but after trying all available medicines and having none of them work, it was only a matter of weeks before my health completely fell apart.
Keep fighting,
~Dennis
Question: For those who’ve had surgery, how sick were you before you went under the knife? For those who haven’t had surgery, how sick will you let yourself get before considering surgery? Answer this post please!
Everybody who has suffered with ulcerative colitis probably doesn’t need to read too much of this description to know what this video is about: the title alone says it all.
Flare ups can take a terrible toll on one’s weight. Countless people have expressed to me the horror they first felt when they lost 40 pounds in a matter of weeks, or watched their weight drop below 100 pounds for the first time since being a kid. When all of your waste is leaving your body before your system has a chance to process it, the body doesn’t get the strength it needs. So it eats away at its own reserves to survive.
And surgery can be just as bad. The body works overtime to heal itself from so much trauma. Weight loss is natural. But sometimes hard to deal with. Especially for people who are thin like me to begin with.
Keep fighting,
~Dennis
Question: How has your weight fluctuated since being diagnosed with ulcerative colitis? Reply to this post!
For everybody wondering what a day with my j-pouch looks like, check out this video. I spend two days with my j-pouch, marking every bowel movement. This video was done after three months with my j-pouch, so it should give you an idea what to expect from your j-pouch three months out from your takedown surgery.
Keep fighting,
~Dennis
Question: Does the frequency of these two days with my j-pouch bother you or is it something you could live with? Reply to this post!
NHL.com posted a story this week about the Edmonton Oilers player Fernando Pisani and his struggle with ulcerative colitis. His story is probably not that much different than yours, but it is good to see professional people spreading the word about ulcerative colitis.
Additionally, Pisani has a program called In the Zone for UC. For every goal he scores in the 2008-2009 season Centocor Ortho Biotech Inc. donates $5,000 to the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America. So far the program has generated $65,000 in money for colitis research.
If you’ve been following my vlog for awhile you know that I frequently suggest ways colitis sufferers can give back to the bowel community. You might not have thousands of dollars to give to research, but that doesn’t mean you can’t develop a smaller-scale program in your local community in conjunction with your hospital or clinic.
Keep fighting,
~Dennis
After having my colon removed, many people are asking me, “Do I miss my colon?” I have a hard time being attached to an internal organ, but I think the real question everybody is asking me is, “Do I miss my old normal, healthy life?”
My answer may surprise you. Or it may not surprise you if you’ve been following my story.
Keep fighting,
~Dennis
Question: Do you miss your colon? For those who have no more colon, please leave a comment!
During my time with ulcerative colitis, I did not have a favorable attitude towards my wayward colon. In fact, I saw my colon as working against my body, not with it.
Keep fighting,
~Dennis
Question: What was/is your attitude towards your colon? Reply to the post!
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