for what it's worth

Who knew that at 39 and sporting an ileostomy I would become a calendar pin up girl! 2013 Ostomy Calendar by Hollister Just call me Miss July...

As I sit here watching the sun rise, I am reflecting over this year. Since we all made it through the Mayan calendar cliffhanger, I decided to post about a year of survival. 2012 has held many obstacles and it's not quite over yet; we still have to witness the famed ball dropping in order to ring in 2013. Today, one year ago--December 23, 2011, I was released from the hospital to come home. This was very unexpected as I was in bad shape having just survived surgery #3 (removal of my rectum), medication overdose which lead to my near death experience (stopped breathing 3 times) and an infection in the wound site. Even after all this and needing home health care too, I was going home to spend the holidays with my family. It was what I needed in order to survive this horrible ordeal. I needed my home. My home filled with my family (and my own bed, to be honest) and my animals. I needed to be surrounded by their love so that I could heal and begin to live again. In late January 2...

It's Thursday. Race day is Sunday. I feel like I've lived a lifetime since Monday. Over the past few weeks I've been struggling with depression. I'm talking about the chemical imbalance of serotonin in the brain. I don't know all the medical jargon but I can tell you this: I do not produce enough of it on my own. I need medication to keep those serotonin babies rockin'. About 3 months ago my doc took me off Cymbalta (antidepressant) because he felt it was too strong now that I am doing well and cured of UC. He was right too, my energy returned and my head didn't seem foggy. He told me to pay attention to my body and come back if I started having signs of depression again. Well, I've just been going along and not paying any attention and this just really snuck up on me. Of course, if I look back over the last month I see that I've been slowly declining. My hubby's been complaining that I've retreated into myself. He's right, that...

Today is already full of crazy emotions and it's only 6:45AM. Last night a wonderful family said goodbye to their baby son. Both his parents and grandparents are beautiful people and have endured a lot during his short life that was filled with special needs and constant care. He beat the odds far longer than was expected making him their little "warrior." Our love and prayers are with them and hope that God's peace and comfort will help them through this very difficult time and those yet to come. Another friend has been dealing with some thyroid issues. A biopsy coming back with the word "carcinoma" can be a bit of a shocker and world rocker. She will begin radiation soon and other treatments as well as surgery to remove the thyroid. She is an amazing mom to 4 little boys so these next few months will probably be very hard on her as she has to put her health front and center. This is a very hard thing for a mom to do as we tend to put ourselves last. Sh...

Did you know that roughly 1.4 million Americans suffer from an Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD)? IBD by wikipedia ^ Hit this to find out exactly what IBD is. I am part of these statistics. I was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis in 2004 after suffering symptoms for over a year. After many, many different treatments I was left with one solution to control the disease, an ileostomy. In 2011 I had my colon and large intestine removed permanently. Ulcerative Colitis ^ Hit this to learn more about UC and other IBDs. Ileostomy by wikipedia ^ Hit this if you wanna know more about an ileostomy Ostomy ^ Hit this one to read about ostomies. December 1-7 is designated as IBD Awareness Week. You would be surprised to know how many people suffer from a bowel disease and even more surprised to find out how many have an ostomy of some sort. IBD is not a "glamorous" thing to have. No one runs around in t-shirts saying Save The Colon or wears bracelets proclaiming I Love Gut...