My Story

So, what exactly happened to me?

In october of 2012, i was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis-a chronic inflammatory bowel disease which affected my entire large colon. I passed blood between 10 and 20 times a day which lead me to become very anaemic and fatigued. The urges to go to the loo were uncontrollable and i often had accidents. Life was pretty rough and living a normal life of a 16/17 year old was near impossible. I would leave lessons constantly, leave parties early, rush away from conversations to get to the toilet-the lot. I even had to wear adult diapers for crying out loud!

Now, there is a lot of medication for ulcerative colitis and i went through it all. I ended up on 33 tablets a day which included a huge amount of steroids. The medication messed me up in many ways and unfortunately didn't help my condition at all. I was the one case that the doctors couldn't fix.

The only 'cure' for colitis is surgery; something i was told that i would never need. Two weeks ago, i was wheeled into theatre and had my large colon (i.e. large intestine) completely removed. I now have an ileostomy-meaning my small intestine comes out of my body and excretes waste into a bag stuck to my tummy. I empty the waste into the toilet approximately 8 times a day. I also have another bag over what is called a mucus fistula-the top of my rectum. My rectum is still inflamed, so bringing it out of my body allows the doctors to apply any medication to the area directly.

I am hoping that my body heels and my rectum becomes clean so that in 6 months time, i am able to reverse the operation and, in short, connect the two parts that are out of my body together inside my body-creating an internal pouch. This will mean i go to the loo normally again, however i will go around 8 times a day and it'll always be a pasty liquid.

The job of the large colon is to absorb water and salt, so i need to ensure i drink more than usual and get in sufficient nutrients.

In my next post, i will describe the physical effects of living with a bag. After that, the emotional.