LinkBack URL
About LinkBacks
On the 2nd of November 2005 I woke up with horrific pains in my stomach and was sick and had diarrhea, but had been out the night before so thought it was just a bad hangover, I cleaned myself up, had breakfast and went to work.
I had to go home from work as I couldn't stand the pain, but didn't call a sicky, just took leave becuase I blamed myself.
When I got in i began to feel really bad and was shaking on my bed for a few hours and was back and forth to the bathroom all day, I took thursday off work as I was ill and went home to St Davids on the friday becuase I don't have a registered doctor in cardiff.
for the first few days I tried starving myself, but the pains got worse and I started passing blood, so I went to the doctors and they put asked if I'd eaten anything dodgy, I explained that I had eaten some 2 day out of date sausages, so they said that was the cause and I gave them a stool sample. A few days went by as my pains for worse and worse, the results came back all clear from the doctor, so I went back in a further 3 times before having blood taken and that was sent to the hostpital
by this time I had been going to the toilet about 15 times a day, passing more and more blood each time
my blood test came back with a really high white blood cell count (meaning you've got an inflamation somewhere and your body is trying to fix it itself), so I was called in for a check up. I went into hostpital on the 23rd of November and had a magic eye where the sun don't shine (was under heavy sedation, but its still gross)
this showed that my large bowell was very inflamed, and the doctor diagnosed it as ulcerative collitis, its a fairly rare non contagous disease that they do not know the cause of. (if it was from bad diet and drikning too much, I would have kicked myself)
there is currently no cure for the disease, but 60% of people take control of the swelling by taking steriods for 4 days, I was kept in hospital and given hydrocortizone (think its callled that) for 7 days through an IV.
I had xrays and a CT scan (a CT scan is when you drink two litres of a special fluid and it shows up your digestive system, and they forced another liquid through your veins as you go through the machine -this bloody kills as you can feel your veins expanding). the CT scan showed that my whole large colon was inflamed and would have to be removed.
the large colon (or large intestine) removes water from your food and i guess makes your poo formed, so without one, you need to drink a lot more and go to the toilet more often
I had my whole large colon (large intestine)removed and now have a colostomy bag (can't find a good pic)
on the side of my stomach
my large intestine was removed because it was inflamed and not working, it is currently uncurable, some people are fixed by pumping them with steroids, after a week of steroids I still had severe stomache cramps and was going to the toilet all through the day, having bad diarrhea (no pic needed!) followed by a lot of blood. I think my record was 14 times in one day (this had been going on for a month before I was operated on)
without the surgery i would have died for sure, when I first found out that I'd need a 'bag' I was horrified and was crying for two days before coming to terms with it
on the night before my operation, a guy in my hospital bay had the same disease and had his removed 16 years previously, so he talked me through a lot of things and gave advice and what to do etc, this really helped me no end
after having my 'last supper' and shaving my chest and upper section of pubic hairs i went to bed on Wednesday the 2nd at midnight, was woken at 6am for a shower and given a sedative pill at 7am. I was then woken at 9am and moved to the operating theatre (kind of half rememeber this) where I was sedated further and they operated on me
next thing I know, i'm coming to on a hard bed and see nurses checking my stats and talking to me but not making much of what they're saying. I had a tube going down my throat (not sure what for). I look down at my chest and see staples in my chest, blood, iodene and two bags on my stomach. the pain was agonising but they were injecting me with morphine and gave me a 'pain button' to press which administered 1mg of morphine every 4 minutes if i pressed it.
I kept asking them if it went ok but kept forgetting what they said, so re asked them! and was crying with pain at the same time, whilst being fed ice in a cloth to damped my mouth, I bit really hard into the ice and chewed a small hole out of the inside of my cheek and lips.
They then rolled me onto a different bed (hurt like hell) and took me back to my ward. for two days i can't remember much, but on my chart it says I self administered morphine 328 times! -came off this on saturday morning (I asked to be taken off becuase its quite bad a** -although listening to Stone Roses and Ian Brown was awesome)
-to cut the rest of my week short (i'm tired now), started eating on sunday (soup, jelly and ice cream), then full meals from then on, and emptied bags myself then started walking on monday, pain got less and less
then finally yesterday I changed both my bags myself (will have to change them every few days -ideally every day for cleanliness) -the first bag is for where the food comes out of the small intestine -have to empty 3-4 times a day -using a easy and clean folding seal. and the second bag is for where my anus is still connected to a very small part of the large intestine, this collects some kind of slime (lubrication) that your bum makes naturally, i'm told this will stop in a few weeks and i can just put a sort of sticker over the hole, and i'll pass about an egg cup full of this fluid through my behind every few days
further down the line (going in to hospital in 6 weeks to see consultant) I might be able to get an internal bag fitted so I'll be able to poo 'normally' again, but will still have to go 3 to 4 times a day from what I understand, and it will be a toothpasty texture
it was really tough to get to terms with it at first, but if i didn't get it done, would have died, so now i've got the best outlook on life ever and today really is the best day of my life
thanks for the support guys, and thanks to my parents for their support, could not have done it without them.
take it easy
bleddyn
here's some pictures, -some are quite graphic..
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a100/yaph...2/secondday.jpg
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a100/yaph...2/machinist.jpg
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a100/yaph...letouttoday.jpg
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a100/yaph...to2/healing.jpg
-edit -I can still pee normally and have children, I just need to make sure I have 3 meals a day and loads of water
Reply With Quote
Sorry to hear it, and glad you're back!
, and you have got through it so far, hang on in there! 
Originally Posted by dangel
