at school
Introduction:
hi my name is Vinny and I had UC for about a year until i got my colon removed in November, it was the best decision of my life and i am almost 100% healthy again .
Finally UC Free: Getting My Colon Taken Out
My name is Vincent and I was diagnosed with UC in January of 2011. I missed the last the 21 days of school and went to two different doctors thinking that the first one was just diagnosing me wrong. After I switched to the best doctor in the area in Dallas/Ft Worth area for the rest of the summer, I was only in remission for maybe 2 months at the max. After I understood how serious this was I decided that there was a lot of things I couldn’t do like play football or go on vacation or be anywhere without a bathroom nearby. My social life quickly depended on if there was a bathroom nearby.
When school started again I was going to the bathroom 20-25 times a day and yelling in excruciating pain every time I couldn’t take it anymore. I went to my doctor after going to school everyday and being miserable when i got there. When I got to my doctor I told him that none of the medication is working anymore at all. The medication was taking a toll on my body and it changed my appearance of my face and my body. I quickly became very self conceded.. After a few more medications and appointment’s with my doctor i had another colonoscopy. My doctor narrowed my colitis down to severe and gave me 2 options:
Remmicade or Surgery.
My biggest fear was surgery!
I told my parents right there in the doctors office i am not getting surgery. But a few weeks later after we have talked more and more about remicade my thoughts started to sway towards surgery. Me and my parents found out that remicade doesn’t eliminate colitis it just forced it into remission. so most likely i would be getting an iv in my arm for the rest of my life… and to add on to that it was EXTREMELY expensive. I felt bad because our insurance wouldn’t cover any more of my medication and my parents have spent hundreds of dollars on dozens of medications that didn’t even work.
The more i started to talk to my doctor and other people about surgery the better it sounded for my future. Although the 2 part surgery is expensive my and my parents along with my doctor decided that this was the best way to go. The surgery was the next month, I counted down the days on my phone everyday. When the time came I couldn’t be more exited and scared at the same time but as soon as the medication kicked in i didn’t remember anything except almost passing out in the bathroom. I woke up from the surgery and the only thing I could think about was my team the New York Giants losing the night before on Monday night football. But other than that I felt great and it felt good to lay down and sleep through the night without having to run to the restroom 8 times. I slowly had to introduce new foods into my new body and bowel system which was hard i just wanted a hamburger…
The hardest part in between surgery’s is the ileostomy bag i have strapped to my side. it was very emotional for my the first time i changed it out in the hospital i couldn’t believe what i was seeing, but i quickly got used to it and now i can confidently say that I am an ostomy professional.
I even named my bag Kenny
and sometimes I draw faces on him
to put me in a better mood hahaa!
Anyways i am back in school and I go everyday on time now and it feels great to sit through a class without running to the bathroom. I am trying to get healthy again and gain my weight back so i can play football again for my senior year :). i cant wait for my next surgery so i can finally say this is all over… If you are thinking about surgery please leave a comment its a smart choice i would love to talk! Never give up!
written by Vinny
Submitted in the Colitis Venting Area
hi my name is Vinny Barton and i had UC for about a year until i got my colon removed in november, it was the best decision of my life and i am almost 100% healthy again .
