for what it's worth

I need to vent. Reader beware, if you're looking for a happy go-lucky posting, this is not it. I'm in pain. This is the most pain I've been in since my ostomy surgery in September of 2011. My bones ache. My muscles are tender to the touch. My joints throb. Even my skin hurts. This kind of pain was a daily occurrence before the removal of my colon and large intestine, it went hand in hand with the active Ulcerative Colitis. I really thought these kinds of days were behind me now. I guess not. The past few months have been miserable. I am popping pain medication (50mg Tramadol) like it's candy and it's not touching the pain. I hardly slept last night due to the pain which made the aching even more intense today. And now guess what, I can't sleep tonight because of the radiating thobbing in my legs. It's a vicious cycle. What I need is relief and sleep but one won't come without the other. I rarely tell anybody about the pain I'm in. Mainly beca

I have an ileostomy which means I do not have a large intestine or colon.  I poop in a bag from a stoma located on my lower right abdomen. A stoma is a small section of the bowel that opens on the outside of the abdominal area allowing waste to leave the body. I will live with this for the rest of my life. My ileostomy is the result of battling Ulcerative Colitis for 7 years. It sucked. I tried countless remedies, both medical and homeopathic. Eventually, nothing worked and my colon gave up the fight. But I'm OK. I actually like my stoma. Her name is Lilly for little ileostomy. Having an ostomy changed my life completely.  It gave me something I'd been missing for a long time. Quality of life. And probably quantity too. I have no problem discussing Lilly or the UC that caused her. I want to be asked about Inflammatory Bowel Disease or IBD. What I've found to be true is this: There are a lot of people out there just lik

Oops, looks like I've forgotten to blog for a while... Well, have no fear, I'm about to blog my pants off! I just got back from a trip to Detroit, Michigan where I had the privilege of hanging out with some pretty gutsy girls, literally. This was a retreat for GirlsWithGuts.org, a non profit advocacy group created to unite people of all walks of life who share a common thread: Inflammatory Bowel Disease. Many of us suffer from Chron's, Ulcerative Colitis and other digestive disorders and diseases. Many of us live with Colostomies, Ileostomies, Urostomies, and J-Pouches because of chronic illness. We have spouses, significant others, children, parents, family and friends who walk with us daily on this journey. We are employers and employees, business owners, athletes, community leaders and members, parents, grandparents, and friends. We are people like you who just happen to live with chronic illness too and we are part of a group focused on bringing awareness to IBD