Follow Jenna on Twitter @abalancedbelly and check out her website: www.abalancedbelly.co.uk Initial Thoughts “Managing IBD: A Balanced Guide to Inflammatory Bowel Disease” is just that, a balanced guide to navigating a diagnosis and life with IBD. Jenna was diagnosed in China after suffering with IBS for almost ten years prior. The pressing need to find out information – in English – and pursue good care in a foreign country, led…
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Acceptance
Lately, people have been asking me how I’ve become so okay with how my life currently is. I think they mean to ask ‘how have you been able to accept your stoma so well?’ because it’s only been a little over six months since my operation. I think it’s down to three things, really: I have lived with a chronic illness for five years. I’ve had all that time to…
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Life Lately | Finding Space to Relax
Life, right now, isn’t busy for me but it’s a complete struggle to relax. I say ‘busy’ in the traditional sense that I still currently unemployed so I don’t have a Monday to Friday 9-5 keeping me occupied. But, that doesn’t mean I haven’t been working. I’ve been spending my time writing and working on improving my ‘blogging game’ pretty much since 2017 started. Despite this, once I am through…
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I am not *quite* used to this, not just yet
This weekend I was in London; I had an amazing time, look! But boy did I suffer. It was a very long day; with an super early start and a late finish. I would do it all over again, even with the soreness I felt the day after. My point here? Well, its a nudge, a reminder, a mini wake up call. I am not like everyone else, I still…
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“I had to mature”
“I had to mature. I gained that ability to recognise what was REALLY important.” – Me, 23.10.16 There is nothing more scary, awful and plain inconvenient than being chronically ill. But, those people who are, are the best people I know. They have this amazing ability to see good in what hell they are going through. They smile when they are in pain, they celebrate the small victories they make…
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Life Lately | The Challenge
I usually don’t get into this whole ‘giving something up for Lent’ thing. I’ve never been particularly religious or felt the need to give something up to prove something either. But I can see the logic behind it; trying to do something new for 40 days and see if it sticks. And this year, I think I might just be in need of this. Of course, things for me have…
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It Creeps Up on You
Diary Entry: 29.04.16 It’s two weeks until my surgery. I’ve finally had all my paperwork for my pre-op and my admission for the actual surgery. It’s come around fast. Faster than expected. Even though it was only a month away when I got told it was provisionally booked. Planned anxiety. That is what my first surgery was. Lately, I’ve been finding myself getting less sleep because my head has…
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Life Lately | Stoma and Ostomy Lifestyle
So, I’ve been doing a lot of specific blog posts on ostomy advice and milestones. What I haven’t been really talking about is what is going on with me, personally. After my first surgery, we had a game plan on what I was going to achieve and when. This included how well I was going to recover, how I would get on with my chronic illness wway from surgery and…
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What I’ve Learnt after Six Months with an Ileostomy
“I’ve learnt that this learning experience isn’t over and won’t ever really be over. And that is okay. I am fine with these challenges because I know I can do them, whatever my stoma throws my way.” Extract from my November post “What I’ve Learnt After Three Months with an Ileostomy” *** Six months. Half a year. It feels and sounds like a huge amount of time.…