Ulcerative Colitis & Recovery: It is a Matter of Choice

Recovery stories are usually stories dealing with those things in one's life that one has no choice but to deal with and has, with the help of others, found a way to go on living in an acceptable fashion; mine is no different.

I have always had a "tender bowel" and have always easily gotten upset; I've always been a "Nervous Nellie" so to speak. The doctors usually attributed these episodes to nerves or, in medical terms "Irritable Bowel". I have always been a worrier. I remember reading once that when a person is under stress, that their weakest body system is affected; I guess mine was my gastrointestinal system.

I don't really know if this predisposition to a tender bowel had anything to do with getting Ulcerative Colitis but I imagine that it did. All I know is that one day I developed a fever that didn't go away; I had severe cramping and diarrhea; further, I began to have mild amounts of blood in my stool. This was at age 24 so you can imagine I was fairly concerned.

Finally after a couple days, I went to the emergency room where I was ultimately treated with valium and a narcotic as well as a "gel". This was to get me through until a sigmoidoscopy (an extensive bowel scope) could be performed, which was two days later. That test revealed that I had Ulcerative Colitis.

Ulcerative Colitis can be in any location and it can be of varying degrees of severity. Further, it may or may not require surgery or, it may or may not require ongoing medication. In my case it was located near the rectum and was easily treated with "Cortenema" (a steroidal enema) for thirty days; no additional or ongoing medication was required. After a Cortenema I simply had to lie still for 30 minutes.

In the majority of cases of Ulcerative Colitis, the patient will have to endure "flares" their entire life; that is the most difficult aspect of living with the illness although I imagine it is much the same as with any chronic illness.

I recovered quickly. Further, because I have a mild case, I have to endure few "flares". When a flare does occur, the initial treatment is simply repeated and I always respond.

Survival for me has been first, admitting that I have the illness and I have to be sane when it comes to caring for my body in terms of exercise and diet; further I drink a lot of fluid. When one stops and thinks about it, the things that I do to "survive", are very, very good for me, so, while I may have a problem in one area, perhaps I am doing better in other areas than I would be if I didn't have the illness.

I have to be careful at all times that I am aware of a restroom.

What I have learned from Ulcerative Colitis is that sometimes, because of embarrassing occurrences, I have to laugh at myself; not take myself too seriously; I have found that I can get through a day when I am not feeling great; I do things that are good for me and have had to become disciplined. Prior to being afflicted with this illness, I was anything but disciplined.

I recall commiserating with a dear friend of mine about his son who has a major illness. I thought I was being supportive when I asked "How do you face each day?" He looked at me with a bit of a solemn expression and asked back "What choice do I have; what choice does he have?"

I have decided surviving an illness is exactly that; a choice.