Introduction:

Here I am a little over 2 weeks post takedown and I couldn’t be happier!!!!!

 

The Takedown Surgery Story:

To be exact I am 18 days post takedown surgery and I am feeling so so good! I’ll start from my surgery though just to give you my whole experience.

Takedown surgery was September 21 in the morning and I was in and out of surgery in about an hour (much different experience than my previous 11 hour surgery). I woke up in the recovery room and actually stayed awake the rest of the day (instead of waking up in my room not knowing how I got there). I felt good, looked down for the first time and saw a bandage on my stomach….and no bag! What an interesting moment. I had been living with this bag for about 7 months and it had become a part of me so it was weird to not see it when I looked down. And no CATHETER!! I pleaded my surgeon not to put one in since it was a short surgery, and she was nice enough not to. WOO HOO! Anywho, just chilled in my bed that whole day and made sure I went pee just to show

them that I could so they wouldn’t have to put a catheter in when I was awake….now THAT would hurt. Next day I was up and walking around like normal already, a lot different from my previous surgeries. Got start ed on clear liquids that day and my bowels woke up that night and I had my first bowel movement in 7 months at 10:20 pm!! I called my parents because I was so excited (they go to bed at like 8:30 so it was a big deal). A couple more trips that night and the next morning. They gave me some solid foods to see how that went and it was fine so they sent me home on Friday (surgery was on that previous Wednesday). I was so excited to get home but I knew that things hadnt even started yet.

I stuck to a bland diet for the next week or so, but not too bland because I need some flavor in my life! The next 4 days after getting home were the WORST! I was going to the bathroom about 24 times in a 24 hour period and my butt was ON FIRE! Not having stuff pass through down there for 7 months really gives you a lot of catching up to do once it starts working again. Those days were miserable because I got no sleep and I couldn’t do anything. It felt like UC all over again, BUT there was no pain in my intestines so I just kept on thinking about that, I was cured and this would only be temporary. I started to feel better about a week after my surgery and then each day kept on getting better. I left the house for the first time on October 1 to go bet on a horse….funny story…..My Dad is a swim coach who goes by the name of Sickie and one of his swimmers owns race horses and he just bought a new horse this past May and named it after my Dad. So Coach Sickie (th e horse) was having his first race at opening day in Santa Anita and we wanted to go make some bets and watch him race, but didn’t want to drive 3 hours to watch in person, so we just went to the off track betting at the Del Mar racetrack to watch and place our bets. That was my first time out of the house. We met up with the owner of the horse and placed our bets. Well lets just say that my family walked away with about $600 more than we came with! Here’s the video that my dads friend shot while we were there….you can hear us screaming towards the end….remember, his name is Coach Sickie…. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctqTlKEoI30&feature=related

Anyway, each day after that has been better and better and better. I am only waking up about 2 times at night and maybe going 5-8 times a day and I am eating everything I used to, slowly introducing new things to see how it goes and it has been going great so far. Now I am just waiting on my incision to heal! It looks pretty gnarly, take a look!

I can’t wait to be able to surf and play soccer again. Soccer has been the thing that I have missed most because it was my whole life before this, and I can’t wait to get back into it. This year has been quite a year and I will never forget it. It was such a life changing experience and it’s time to start my new life. I am so thankful for my family and friends who have been there and supported me through this whole thing and I’d like to thank Adam for making this site possible. I found this site when I still had UC and was so grateful that I did because it gave me a place to connect with others all over the world who were going through the same struggles that I was. I will keep you all updated on everything as things progress. I can’t wait to be able to start my new life! I need to get a job first……haha.

Medications:     NONE / NADA

This Story:

Submitted by Curtis in the Colitis Venting Area

 

You can read all of Curtis’s stories here:  CURTIS STORIES