Introduction:
My name is Bill and I live in Perth Australia, I was diagnosed with UC in the mid-seventies, and like a lot of people I was first diagnosed with piles, however it was only a matter of weeks before I was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis. Also my symptoms seemed to coincide with me giving up cigarettes. In some ways I am luckier than others in that my UC has only ever affected the lower 150 to 200mm of my colon, albeit it has been a nuisance over the years. I have had long periods when I have been symptom free and have been able to play football and have a good social life. I am now 65 and my symptom free periods are much less and 4 years ago I was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease. I am not looking for sympathy this is all part of life and your just have to get on with it. My wife and I still go out dancing (jive and Northern Soul) and I still work full time.
Some more about me:
I have been quite active for most of my life despite the UC, my main love of life is football (I am a Manchster City supporter), we love going out dancing and going to shows, We are going to see Cliff Richard next month at a winery near Perth, or should I say my wife is going to see Cliff Richard and I am going along under protest.
Current Symptoms:
My current symptoms are the classic UC stuff, passing mucus and blood, crampy stomach ache, tired and listless. I have tried all sorts of diets over the years and all sorts of medications, the ones that work for me are sulphalazine and colifoam. I have colonoscopies every 12 months.
My Story:
We came to Australia in 1971 as immigrants and it cost us 10 pounds each (commonly known in Australia as 10 pound POMS) we arrived in Brisbane on St Valentine’s day and I can remember that Journey like it happened yesterday. We flew on a Boeing 707 and I think every time the pilot saw lights it landed, it took us 36 hours and when we got off the plane it was like walking into a sauna.
To cut a long story short my wife hated the place and I loved it and after 8 years we went back home to Manchester, England. After 2 years in a small place north of Manchester called Rochdale we decided to go back to Australia.. We decided that Brisbane was not the place for us and we chose Perth, then a set of events happened which seemed to reinforce our choice.
First we put our house up for sale and it sold within 2 weeks for cash, then I saw an advert in the paper for a job in Perth, I applied and got the job, so two of the largest hurdles had been overcome. We still had entry visas in our passports so there was no problem getting back into Australia. We arrived back in Australia on 14 October 1981 and I can’t remember anything of the flight back except that we had to spend several hours in Kuala Lumpur waiting for the next plane.
We were met at the airport by my new Boss who was a big bloke from Chicago, well actually his wife Jean met us because my boss was still drinking in the bar (it was 3.00am). My boss used to always have a cigar in his mouth which he never lit he just used to chew it.
I could go on with all the experiences we have had but needless to say Perth has been very good to us, we have a very close family around us which include Australians, South Africans, English and Russians, and a couple of grand children for good measure.
written by “Fantom”
submitted in the colitis venting area
My name is Bill and I live in Perth Australia, I was diagnosed with UC in the mid-seventies
