Hello all,
My name is Manny, Im 29 years old and I am a new member to this website, however i have been following the forum since i was diagnosed with ulcerative colitits in May 2010. Just a brief description of my story. I was diagnosed in May 2010 during one of the most severe flare ups of my life; I was put into remission by remicade infusions and stayed in remission until May 2012 (pretty impressive i thought for just 3 infusions, considering the prednisone steriod nor any other medicine was working at the time) Anywho, I had my second real severe flare up in May 2012 and i was fortunate with this flare up as i was able to control it with 20mg of prednisone. Once the dr and I began to taper off the prednisone and tried staying with Balsalizide for control of the UC, I began to flare up again in Oct 2012. So, I was put back on the prednisone from Oct 2012 to March 2013. It was in March I decided to "take the plunge" and have my diseased colon removed considering long term prednisone use could do more harm then good. After my inital surgery, I have to say i didnt take to kindly to the illeostomy and was ready to have it removed on day 1. Oddly enough two weeks after my discharge from the hospital, I woke up one morning to find a ostomy bag full of blood because I was bleeding from my stoma sight and from my anus. I was rushed to the hospital where my surgeon met me and "felt" a perforation in my pouch.. I was admitted and stayed in the hospital a few days. It was set for my inital two stage surgery (removal of the colon and takedown) to become a three stage because the pouch had to be repaired (if possible). I went into the hospital again in July 2013 for the reconstruction of my j pouch only to wake up to an amazing surprise... THE J POUCH WAS PERFECT!!! The surgeon could not figure it out, he was blown away considering he could not find any signs of a perforation. So two weeks later, I was in the hospital once again this time for my takedown surgery and i must say this is the hardest recovery ive ever had to go through. The butt burn, the cramping, the spasms, im very weak and very immobile. This is extremely unusal for me considering I was very athletic pre surgery, I spent 6-7 days a week at the gym and was never much of a "couch potato". My question is when does everything get back to normal? i know this is a broad question because everyone is different but give or take, how long before I start to feel myself again and all these side effects go away???? any answers would be appreciated.. Thank you for letting me share.. Manny
Original Post
