The waiting game Travelled to Stamford this morning to check in with my surgeon following my operation, six weeks and five days ago. I can hardly believe its the middle of May, let alone comprehend that it’s been that long since my surgery back in…
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Surgery Anniversary
I’ve been thinking alot lately about surgery and it’s sometimes negative reputation and impact on the chronically ill. When I was first diagnosed with Crohn’s disease and we were discussing treatment options for controlling it, I was positive that I could fight this without…
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Post Operative Blues: The Emotional Highs & Lows after Discharge from Hospital
It has been six weeks since my surgery and officially met a huge scheduled landmark in recovery: “expect to feel recovered and back to almost ‘normal’ after six to eight weeks.” It’s standard procedure to feel better after this long; wounds would have healed by…
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One Month Post Surgery
Four weeks, twenty-eight days. Admittedly, I did write my last update – you can read it here – abit later than I’d originally planned but still, to think it’s been a month since surgery is just mind blowing. During these last two weeks I learnt a…
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Life Lately | Wound Care
DISCLAIMER: This post discusses the care of surgical wounds. No photos of any wounds are present in this post. The thing with surgery is you are left with scars. Scars mean wounds. And wounds mean wound care. For each of my bowel surgeries, I’ve been…
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Two Weeks Post Surgery
Seems like only yesterday I was counting backwards from four to be put under for my Proctectomy. But here we are, fourteen days post op and it’s been a weird and wonderful ride. I spent eight days on the ward, learning to manage my pain…
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What’s in my Hospital Bag?
It’s been almost three years since I had a planned admission to hospital, and a little over a year that I’ve had without an admission at all. So, planning and packing my hospital bag was a quite daunting task. What would I need? How much would…
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Why? My Proctectomy Explained
Background: In 2016 I underwent two operations for my Crohn’s Disease. The first was a Right Hemicolectomy in May, followed by a Subtotal Colectomy with Ileostomy in August. My first surgery was to remove a stricture that was causing all of my then IBD symptoms.…
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How To Prepare for Surgery
I am a week or so away from another surgery. A planned one for a change! It has been almost three years since my first surgery and things are different this time around – I know what to expect, how the pre op appointments work,…