Going Back To Work.

Do you have long term disability insurance through work, personally paid or through a union? LT policies usually kick in at 6 months. Also Social security disability starts paying disability benefits after being disabled 6 months. The filing process is gruesome but I was approved with my initial filing, so don't let everyone scare you about filing for it. You might not need it forever but you might need it for 18 months or whatever. I am just brainstorming here.

How much do you have to lift on your job? Has your doctor released you to lift that much? Have you been going back to your doctor with your problems? If not go and make sure that all of your problems are documented.

Does your place of employment have lite duty jobs that you can do, desk like work, instead of the manual labor ones? If they do can you even sit for that long?

You need to make sure that your GP and your other doctors all are behind you as it appears you need to go forward towards long term disability now. It took me 3 months to get approved. You need to say how your health problems affect your life and how you can not do this and that because of them.

Sorry for the rant but I've been where you are and it's scary. Not all of us come out of this like we hoped we would.

Take care of your health first. Starting too soon will probably just make things worse. I found that my Internist/GP was the best help in helping me with my chronic pain management and problems like sleep deprivation. M GI and surgeon didn't want to have anything to do with that as they don't see me as often as she, Internist, did. She also has me on antidepressants as chronic pain etc. is depressing as well.

Take care

I work for Union company.
I will have to look into long term disability.
I really know I cannot handle it right now.
as for lifting limits at work...you may have to move a 200 pound piece
by yourself.
My doc has not released me yet. I have not asked.
if I can get long term I will check SS.
I have an appointment with my surgeon next Wednesday.
I will have a chat with her about.
in the meantime looks like I have a few phone calls to make.
Nothing wrong with brainstorming....it may work out.
Hope it does.
Right now I am getting short term disability thru the union.

You may be released to go back to work, but make sure your doc knows your job description and the physical requirements.

The work release may have some accommodations that your company may have to make, if possible.

No accommodations.
Either you work your position or you do not have a job.
Now workmans comp is different.
This was elective surgery.
I will find out more tomorrow.
Thanks all.

What did you find out? I'm sure the 200 pound requirement was a deal breaker right there. I seriously hope your union has LTD so you can continue to recover.

Please let us know how you are doing and under no circumstances go back until your body is ready to go.

If you keep meeting unrealistic expectations the powers that be don't realize they are asking you to do them.

I know a fellow j-poucher that had chronic cuffitis that went back to a temporary stoma as he could not do his job lifting 35 + pounds and all the the restroom trips required. He was in a non union shop. His j-pouch is just disconnected until he can figure out what he can do to have it fixed and can gather up enough family medical leave and money to take the time off.

I hope you received good news plus are feeling better.

As for leaking, I know that you might think this is odd but I was forced to wear adult diapers for a little while after my pouch surgery. This helped especially at night because sometimes I either couldn't make it to the bathroom or was so sound asleep that I didn't know. Lifting is going to be a huge issue because that strain can affect your pouch. If your surgeon writes a note to your work saying that you can not lift over a certain amount of weight then they should have to adhere by that. For arthritis I know a lot of people that take Celebrex for it because arthritis is common in UC/Crohns patients. Good luck!!!

Thanks.
No lifting limits.
Cannot do that.
As for diapers I wear pads at night.
Nothing big enough comes out to have to wear those.
I wear pads all day as I leak most everyday all day..there again not large amounts just enough to have to wear them.
I hope that the leaking part gets better.
Richard.

I tend to leak when I have active pouchitis. It's not the only cause of leakage, but it's worth considering.

Nah.
I have leaked from day one.
I wish it was something easily diagnosed.
But nothing is that easy in my life. Haha.
I have a dr appt in a week and will bring it up and post the results here...if any results are found....I have alot of questions wrote down that's for sure.