I remember vividly two days that began my journey with Vedolizumab; “she returned my call, the long and short of it being that “no, this isn’t working“; agreeing with my doubts since Monday. It’s not a decision to be taken lightly and it certainly wasn’t a happy and cheerful conversation but it was honest and realistic. Having me fail biological treatment like Infliximab was a shock.” INFLIXIMAB #14 – THE…
crohns disease
-
-
Having Major Surgery During a Pandemic
I know almost all of us did not expect nor predict that 2020 would be how it has been thus far. It has been without a doubt the most challenging year for a very long time. However, when you have a chronic illness, you go through periods where you are indeed isolated and out of the public sphere due to ill health. I, myself, have had my fair share of…
-
Life Insurance & IBD
Disclaimer: Guest post Award-winning life insurance broker, Reassured, explain what information you’ll need to provide when applying for life insurance with Crohn’s disease and how the condition may have an impact on your cover. As with any life insurance application, you’ll need to provide information regarding your age, health, level of cover, length of cover and your smoking status. As well as this standard information, insurers will also need to ask…
-
Being and Staying Positive
“May the flowers remind us why the rain was necessary” “One day at a time” “Be gentle with yourself, you’re doing the best you can” We hear ‘positive‘ quotes all day long in the chronic illness community. From helping us get through a tough day, to reminding someone else they are stronger than their mind is telling them; positivity has a great lot of traction with those who are going…
-
Diagnosis Day
In the Autumn of 2011, I spent hardly anytime online. In fact, I spent several weeks on several occasions, battling my defunct body in the hospital. I remember a lot of emotions from those weeks I spent in isolation, unsure of what was happening, what would happen and how I was going to cope with it all. The smell of cannula plasters. The familiar sound of monitors going off. The…
-
Same Ocean, Different Boats
Sometimes, it can feel as if you are all alone with your problems. It is easy to compare yourself to others when social media is and can be a highlight reel. When images are smoothed out, positives over negatives are drawn. It can be really hard, to be honest and raw, when it can be lost behind everything else that is deemed more important and more relevant. Something some removed…
-
Stoma Life – YEAR FOUR
What I’ve Learnt and Achieve in the Last Twelve Months with my Ostomy Year Four with Priscilla has been quiet, compared to other years. She settled down into a new routine after proctectomy surgery and wound day surgery. She even remained calm when I came off my medication and we came into 2020. Then COVID happened and well, I got some bad news. But what did the next twelve months have…
-
Has my Bag Improved my IBD?
It is the week before surgery. I knew the closer we got to my date, I would begin pondering things. August has a tendency to bring up some pretty miserable memories, as well as great ones. I’m coming closer to the anniversary of my stoma surgery, a period in which I was the sickest I’ve been since having IBD. The days, weeks and months that followed that surgery, were filled…
-
The Perfect Storm
Inspired by writingfortheloveofit – Perfect Storm which can be found here. “Have you ever thought about your life as the perfect storm? Let’s think about it for a moment. A “perfect storm” describes an event where a rare combination of circumstances aggravate a situation drastically. (Wikipedia) Has there ever been a time or times in your life where you have thought that nothing else could possibly go wrong and then something…