Auric's Story

I'm a 17 year old from Ontario Canada who has suffered from Ulcerative Colitis (UC) since a very young age. At first I was able to control it with anti-inflammatories and then it progressively got worse, as my age increased my colitis' condition worsened.

As life went on I was placed on prednisone, the infamous wonderdrug, to help control the ulcerative colitis. It worked, but only at huge doses. I remember being up to 40mg a day of the stuff, and still not feeling good. At the age of 16 I was on high doses of prednisone and having severe flare ups, so after "outgrowing" my specialist at the local childrens hospital, (CHEO in Ottawa, and I must say the doc was a real asshole..stupid money grubbing SOB who cared more about his paycheck than he did the patients), I went to a new doctor, an adult gastroenterologist. He was very nice and he began presenting me with different options, I could go back on medication, (which we tried for a little while with limited success), or I could have surgery, which I later decided was to be the best thing for me.

March 27th, 2001 I was under the knife, my surgeon was great and took amazing care of me. In fact 6 days after this surgery I am home and recovering in my own bed. The doctor removed the culprit, the diseased colon, and it was severely damaged. He said that it was "useless" in its current stage, most of it being sick and damaged from the UC. Thankfully however my rectal stump and lower end was healthy and able to be used for a J-pouch. I now have a small stoma that I must use for a couple of months, while my J-pouch heals. The doctor opted for a 2 stage surgery due to my dependancy to prednisone. My body needs time to get off and adjust.

I am just getting used to the fact of "hey, I have a stoma", and well, I haven't given it a name yet. Any ideas? In June or maybe a little later I will be going in for my reattachment, as I have a "loop" ileostomy, which means my J-pouch is intact and functional, just the ileostomy is 'up stream' from where the pouch begins. I think my life has changed for the best now, no more pain, cramps or diahrrea. Just a twice a day little visit to the bathroom with my rinsing bottle. My teachers have been very nice about being sick, and the fact that I have been off sick due to the surgery.

All I can say is I am not going to let this stoma, surgery or anything get me down now. The road ahead looks bright. If anybody else wants to email me, email me at auricrules@hotmail.com If you have any questions about having surgery, go ahead and ask. I'm always up to talk.

Josh

P.S. expect an update when I have my reattachment

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