The folks over at Living with UC, which is really just a corporate site for Remicade, have a new advertisement they’ve been airing on TV. Maybe you’ve seen it. It features hockey player Fernando Pisani talking about ulcerative colitis.
I like Pisani and think he helps out the IBD community a lot, but one thing I found funny about this ad is the symptoms of ulcerative colitis that they list. The only symptoms mentioned are: fatigue, abdominal pain, and weight loss.
Really? Those symptoms are pretty general. They left out my favorite symptom–bloody, urgent, frequent, and uncontrollable diarrhea!
Maybe saying it like that doesn’t make for a catchy ad.
I haven’t found a good Garfield Minus Garfield comic in many months. Jon’s lack of appetite perfectly captures how I felt directly after each surgery some days.
A college guy named David has made this short video about a fictitious musical on Crohn’s disease. At least somebody knows how to have a sense of humor about this disease. [Some swearing in this video.]
If anybody ever reads the blogs on J-Pouch Life you’d be familiar with Brevin, a good-natured guy who currently lives with an ileostomy. He posted a comic that he had done this week that captures one of the more interesting aspects of living with an ileostomy.
My output used to squirt out five feet or more in the shower.
Sadly, I think Jon in this Garfield Minus Garfield comic reflects the attitude of many people with colitis. We all fear something. After seeing our health fail us so terribly we have a hard time trusting our own body.
But just because we’re afraid of failure doesn’t mean we don’t face failure. There’s no way to ever eliminate the prospect of failure. Instead, we turn towards life in spite of failure.
Yesterday a ran across a casual acquaintance I hadn’t seen in about three weeks. This man knew nothing of my medical issues, as we weren’t that close.
He asked, “Where’ve you been these last few weeks?”
“Well, I had to go through some surgery. But everything’s all better now,” I said.
“I don’t see you missing any parts so you must be alright! Glad to see you again!” he said with a smile.
If only he knew what I was missing, I chuckled to myself.
In all seriousness 2009 is here and it’s a brand new year. When I was in the thick of darkness back in my colitis days, I took comfort in the idea of newness. As we all know, we suffer many dark days trying to control our infantile bowels. And some days get very bad. So bad that giving up seems the only reasonable option, which is why I always looked forward to the night. I knew that upon waking the next morning that I would greet a new day. Not that the new days are always better. But you start with a clean slate and are given another chance by God to try this thing called life one more time.
Hey everybody, I hope things are going well for you and you’re getting ready for Christmas. I’m doing great and feeling a little better everyday. When you’re recovering from surgery, it’s important to keep your goals in mind and not focus so much on the day-to-day trials.
Yesterday’s Stool Count: 8 times during the day, 4 times during the night.
No improvement yet.
Tomorrow’s video is about some exercises that are important to do following j-pouch surgery.
And for those of you in the middle of a flare up right now, do you ever feel like poor Jon here from Garfield Minus Garfield?
Sometimes the urgency can be overwhelming, as my video from yesterday so perfectly reflects.
Hey everybody, one week from now I’ll have my next (and hopefully last surgery). As I come to this point after a long journey, I’m filled with different thoughts and emotions. I’ll discuss tomorrow my state of mind before this big transition from life with an ileostomy to life using my butt muscles again.
I also found another Garfield Minus Garfield comic that matches perfectly what many feel like when they have colitis. Not that I feel like this at this moment…haven’t felt this way in a long time.
Hey everybody, I went to CVS/pharmacy a few days ago to get some heat pads. On rare days the area around my stoma hurts, usually at the end of the day, most likely because my body’s getting tired. So heat pads help with that. And when I was in there, I was amazed at their impressive cigarette display behind the counter. I think they have more cigarettes than the grocery stores and liquor stores! Does it seem odd to anybody else that cigarettes are on one end of the store and the pharmacy is on the other?
Hey everybody, tomorrow’s video completes the two-part set of videos about pain. This may not be the last time I visit this subject.
For a little end of the week humor, I found this Garfield Minus Garfield comic that reflects what life is like living with ulcerative colitis. Check out his site for more great comics like this.
Many of us have ostomies only temporarily. And many people around the world are in need of supplies. So if you have any extra unused, new, and clean supplies, send them our way!
We are collecting supplies to send to Haiti with a medical team!
Current progress:
1114 bags and flanges
2108 medical supplies
