Le Wulf, I.B.D. hospitals and Stomas/after hospital (WIP) «12» Go

Le Wulf

placeholder will be putting topic here shortly please bear with me (explained in Le Wulfs memoirs on BPs Strategy Discussion).

Le Wulf

I just lost about 2 hours! (not 20 as originally posted) work by trying to copy before I posted it and urgh! so apologies to the Le Wulf memoir fans this is all your gonna get unless a forum magician can fix it

So onto my personal life which some of you are interested in :

Note this is grose so dont read and about to get kicked off machine so massive apologies to all thsoe expecting some direct responses to personal messages and what not :

Summary - and this will get in depth for anyone finding themselves in my position and needing help and how to survive hospital and get a bit of a head start and alls orts.

9 years ago started pooing blood I wasn't dead so didnt bother with a doctor and eventually stopped pooing blood. 9 years on after it had come back a few times this time it did not go away (started about year ago again) and by december it was not going well at all and after december started losing a lot of weight and dropped from 15 stone to when admitted to hospital 8.6 stone and when I did not do too well at some point in hospital dropped to 7.8 stone.

It was a very close call and it was a race to get me fixed with an operation while trying to get me strong enough to survive it. I was diagnosed with 'ulcerative colitis) (or something like that) basically irritable bowel disease - not crohns.

And will go into details and a guide to survive this thing but have to go very shortly.

If you ever see blood down below please do get to a doctor.

Aplogies to The Fangs and others on the Le Wulf memoirs who were expecting responses tonight and being an idiot I lost the entire post Thank you for all your messages they really did give me a morale boost and at one point people were always commenting on my positive attitude which surprised them - after the operation a ton of docs were pleased with me too not realising horse tranks on tap with morphine does wonders for ones mood (had about three types of morphine two of them were at will! )

Yeah so this is all gobbidy gook probably as I rush with a dyslexic mind trying to justify bumping Le Wulf memoirs with this link. I will be back and this as well as Le Wulf memoirs will be made worthwhile post (especially this one, where you will learn what I went through and hopefully realise if your in similar straits you got another person of the stoma community to relate to).

Why post it here? because theres a lot of people who can benefit from it and this is off topic forum, and I am Wulf and if you don't like it you can argue with the crew until I get my inactive **** back online full time!

Yard

Is it possible to ctrl+z back?

The Union

I just like idea of benefiting from somebody else's blood poo. I feel like this is a subject that haven't been explored enough.

Le Wulf

Yard said:

Is it possible to ctrl+z back?

That was the command I needed to try! alas my absence from the pc made much of the most basic things mush in my mind. Cheers for that will remember in future The right click failed but I think the command itself would have done the trick bah what an idiot I am!

(I could also blame the browser type - personally prefer the none corporate one rather than the oppressive regime of the one most people start off with - so its not me being thick its the browser type!)

The Union said:

I just like idea of benefiting from somebody else's blood poo. I feel like this is a subject that haven't been explored enough.

I think your a nutter and there just arnt enough nutters in the world. Fear not sir for there will be plenty of discussion on my poo here shortly umm and about the food and meds and what not to do when the nurses are freaking out with a potential blood transfusion rejection....but for now we shall start at the beginning :

I raced my many thousands of brothers and sisters out of my fathers organ (may he rest in peace) and fought my way through my mothers many anti bodies bent on my and the rest of my kin destruction

umm too near the beginning, we shall start with the topic at hand I think (I personally don't want to relive my journey through one's mothers ovaries all over again it would be like rewatching the episode of JR being shot just without the big hats and shoulder pads). :

So there is me in a plenty cool job and in new accomadation that came with the job (I had basically helped start the company and it was plenty cool) my martial training had taken bit of a backseat in recent times as I felt quite healthy and discovered the wonderful world of online gaming and better still a rather nifty game of empires and do whatever you like (quite a basic game with huge possibilities) and will not go into it otherwise you will hear all about my adventures and inevitably I will go into details how this was better than the ancient MUDs I used to play.

Anyways one sunny day I went to le bog and small bit of blood was there, so I ignored it and following day a bit more and then a bit more and eventually it seemed other than big poo I was often proud of producing (notice to women : men are often proud of the size they can produce - an example of how proud I very nearly one time took a picture of a particularly huge one I had produced but thought a moderator of the aforementioned game I had discovered would only take it off and give me yet another forum warning for being inappropriate) also contained a rather large amount of blood...this was a couple weeks on since the first signs of blood. Now was the time I SHOULD HAVE MOST DEFINATLEY GONE TO LE DOCS if not after day 1 or 2 of this. And again I will repeat to anyone who has similar symptons please do drop any macho stuff and just go to the docs - the reason I did not was partly because I was a bit like Monica out of friends when she sais "I don't get ill, only weak people get will" my personal philosophy back then (and for a number of years while having this thing) was 'I am not dead yet so I don't need no doc' - yes I am that stubborn as some of the Wulf fans may have seen in some of the wars I get myself into on BP.

Going to post this now to make sure it posts before I get too far ahead of myself - remember I havnt touched a pc since yesterday and before that it was December so feel like old person tapping away here hoping this magic thing works....continued shortly

TonyB

**** Wulf, do you know how much money you could make with the before and after pictures?! (of you, not the **** that is)

"Introducing the diet to end all diets, and possibly you, if you're a wuss!
Ingest this simple pill that may or may not cause rectal hemorrhaging and reap the benefits of near instant weight loss!
The new darling of the cat walk, it's super trendy. Need to get into that wedding dress, and only weeks from the ceremony? We've got you covered!

Please note, side effects include red farts. Do not consume while wearing a white dress.

Now for the low, low price of £99.99!"

You could be rich man! RICH! 

But seriously, glad to hear you're on the road to wellness  

McLoudNL

Kixeye should hire you as a story writer... i can already imagine the nex raid :

Title: Blood Poo, the Reckoning

9 years ago captain Harlock started pooing blood now its time for the reckoning.

{Insert random Wulf Quote here}

Best of Poo Captains.

Le Wulf

The blood went on for quite some time but as I didn't feel any different and nothing seemed to be changing (other than a ton of blood coming out my **** when I went to the latrine) I completely ignored it while also figuring one day I might wake up dead.

Fast forward some time : change of job something more physical and me doing my favourite thing of taming the masses with my rather stubborn streak and the blood eased up and my 'stools' went back to normal. It was a very physical job and I am just going to assume that had something to do with it as the I.B.D./ Ulcerative Colitus came back (in my case) when I was inactive from physical work (when working in physical roles I often push myself very hard its just habit from previous training) over the years.

Last year about June/July it started again by now it did not start with blood and I had gotten used to it starting differently [TAKE NOTE ANY FOLLOWING SYMPTONS SEE A DOC] sometimes a bit of mucusy stuff would be mixed in sometimes a white thing would be attached (this might have been part of my guts - I don't know) sometimes it would be just this white stringy looking stuff, eventually stools would lose the 'sausage' or 'cat pooh' like form and become small balls of sorts and then would become liquid and blood. Again you see any of these symptons get your **** to the doc. If you experience Diarrhea longer than a few days but nothing else - still see the doc get a blood test at the very least as well as an exam 'up there'

(I had a camera go up there while in hospital and where I had left it so long = not good at all, so get it checked out ASAP, if your going through any of this now and don't know what to do or what to say to the docs/receptionist just tell them how long its been going on for and as much info as you can and they will do all they can to help you - my doc [GP one] saved my life for his quick and decisive action on the matter on getting a blood test that day at the hospital and for getting the referral when he got the sample back from the hospital straight to a surgeon the whole process took a week from me more or less dragging my feet through the door through exhaustion to getting to a wonderful surgeon who has given me - along with another doc and crew - these extra 5 weeks of life so far. So trust me whatever age your at and I will probably keep on repeating myself throughout this topic get to Le Docs).

Last year about June/July it started again by now it did not start with blood and I had gotten used to it starting differently....by now and rolled my eyes at it and carried on with my life, I had noticed I was losing weight being a beefy and tad bit unfit around 15 stone over the coming months but put that down to nothing other than this odd thing with the pooh that kept reoccurring. Come December I was getting concerned - not that me being concerned makes a bit of difference to what I do but I was getting concerned.

After Christmas I had certainly noticed some foods were beginning to aggravate the frequency of needing to go to the toilet, to eventually any food was bit of a risk of me needing a quick session on the toilet. My weight started to really start dropping hit around 12 stone which I hadn't been for years and that was when I was training/working very hard. I was getting weaker I could feel it and was getting a bit worried - An old national trait of ours probably brought about from the days of Empire is to be stoic and see things as 'a bit sticky' or 'not quite cricket' 'not my cup of tea' and get on with things as if nothing has happened, just look at Isandhlwana of how daft a certain class can be - so me getting worried was certainly concerning so I started to curb my diet took certain processed foods off (not that I ate a lot of processed foods anyway) and then cut out bits and pieces and figured certainly I will get back on track now....

I did not get back on track, I was getting a bit scared of eating as even my life long favourite of cheese sandwiches seemed to be a trigger for needing to run to the latrine after only half of it. Note : there are certain trigger foods which at the time I figured would be healthy but instead they just aggravate the symptons of IBD like lettuce/onions/garlic/brown bread and the list can go on and it varies from person to person.

My partner (still won't say even here my orientation! you will have to guess ) was getting worried but they knew me well enough that not even a rhino with its **** on fire can make me shift to do something if I didn't feel like it / stop doing something : again Wulf fans will see this trait in my various scuffles with other players and as I often say in the real world a strength is often a weakness too = this is where it shows. Strong willed or just stubborn? looking back I think what a tool I was for not getting this sorted out earlier and for putting my partner and family through so much worry.

AGAIN I REPEAT : IF NOT DO IT FOR YOURSELF GET YOURSELF CHECKED OUT FOR YOUR FAMILY AND FRIENDS - YOU MAY NOT THINK YOU GOT ANY BUT EVEN **** WADS HAVE PEOPLE WHO CARE FOR THEM ON SOME LEVEL, i AM A PRIME EXAKMPLE

About Feburary I was permanently in a T shirt, polo shirt, sweatshirt, proper body warmer to keep warm, I seemed to have lost the ability to keep myself warm. And I was now going to the toilet up to 12 times a day - that is hard work. I just lost interest in having a shower (not that I was stinky as I wasn't doing much I just seemed to have lost the will to care which is odd because I like showers having worked outside in various weathers the feel of warm water was always like a warm rain and seemed to cleanse inside as well as if anything bad in me spiritually was being washed away - I am a bit odd like that my logic don't always make sense) one day I did take a shower and I could not believe what I saw while washing myself, my ribs were really showing my stomach had completely flattened out/gone in my legs which were once powerful things (in my prime about ten years ago I could train 50 kicks none stop without putting my leg on the floor - proper controlled kicks inspired by playing Street Fighter 2 Chun Li's character lol) were now sticks I had never seen my legs so weak looking and my arms had really lost its muscle and putting the soap on I could feel only weakness.

Late on in Feburary I decided something needed to be done I was not getting better and no matter what healthy stuff I was eating it was not helping. I was getting tired very easily too. I decided to get signed up to a doctors practice.

It is now March, and part of me was gearing up for a war against whatever was wrong with me. I didn't think they would know what was up with me and figured I was beyond help but also had a 'lets go through the motions' of at least trying to get better. I noticed the month was March and that gave me a very good feeling, I wanted to win and this was the month of Mars the God of War (my personal religion/spiritual thing is hard to explain but basically that is part of the almighty as humans are part of the almighty in a different way we are individuals but are still linked to something incredibly powerful beyond our comprehension - and anyone wanting to know more of my odd faith which manages to offends religious nutters/Christians/aetheists/scientists/creationists feel free to contact me, just don't expect me to try and convert you or care if you dig it or not) This feeling of renewed strength flooded through me a strange kind of strength of a different kind of morale booster a feeling of hope that because this was the month of Mars whether I win or lose does not matter I had victory in me and that would make things this side of life or the other a good thing.

Got to the Docs in March he wasn't happy with me at first because i gone around getting an appointment the wrong way (I did what the receptionist suggested and I think it must have broken a couple of protocols which was turn up and weight till he has a free spot - before this I had no idea how doctors and practices and pretty much anything to do with the medical system worked, other than the show Scrubs and The Green Wing, and for the record according to a nurse Scrubs is the most accurate medical show she has seen). At first the Doc fired questions at me and was getting impatient, then he weighed me and think he realised it was not me being on purpose slow and a bit dim in my responses I was really weak and needed help fast. He gave me a quick finger up the backside which hurt like mad and asked me some more questions and finished by saying "You are not a very well man at all, your -not putting age lol- but look 75" he said blood tests are daily before 12 midday but in my condition I need one sooner so he gave me some papers and recommended i get to the hospital straight away - i was given a choice and I said I go with what you think best (even though by then I felt very tired and the hospital was about a mile away, nothing by anyones standards but walking in that state was very tough on me) and so stuck my stiff upper lip on and marched to the hospital.

It was a tough walk but I did it and the blood testing bit was packed the receptionist suggested in come back tomorrow but I said the Doc said i needed one ASAP so she said ok and asked me to wait. It took just under an hour and I got up managed to fight off the dizziness that by now every time i tried to get up and walk would take me. Something i forgot to mention earlier was at home i would be under duvets and a make shift bed on the front rooms floor of blankets and more duvets so i could get to the toilet without waking my partner and for ease of getting in and out and what not. During the day i would slip into the proper bed to catch up on sleep as my sleeping pattern by now was shot to bits. Getting up would often cause me dizaziness several steps later and sometimes my brain seemed empty and i would go on auto pilot before blood managed to get back in there and sometimes i would stumble and sometimes i would just stand there really needing the latrine but facing a blank mind on what to do or why i was there in the hallway - as time went on i had more or less programmed myself to keep going despite not knowing what was going on until i recovered several seconds later, often stumbling but i made it somehow.  I managed to get to the blood test office past the crowd but at the very end my will seemed to give out and i got dizzy again and fell into the wall i figured they would be mad for my silliness but they were very understanding and helped me to a chair and took a blood sample which I don't think i ever had before it wasn't very pleasant and the lady there was really nice and so was the guy they helped me with my jacket to put on - this may seem odd but it really was a task and a half putting my jacket on and it really helped me when people helped with it both physically and emotionally. As the Doc back at the practice said 'You are not a well man at all'.

Fast forward couple of days for when the Doc at the practice would get the blood sample and it have all that needed done to it and he booked me into an appointment with a Surgeon at the hospital on the Monday (the day was Friday and the blood test think was Tuesday or Wedesday couple days before that Friday).

I know this is very wordy and some (if not most) of you may wonder why I am going into such detail, this is because I had never come across anything like this before in my life and think anyone else like me not knowing of the medical system as well as odd thoughts and ways will get an idea of what may happen and how this gamer went through with it. As well as cheering anyone I have upset in the past up.

and will post up now just in case i lose it all....

Le Wulf

Monday, I cant remember that weekend at all but I do remember that Monday very well, time may catch up with me so may leave this post half finished and again apologies for not getting the responses on Le Wulf memoirs to people I will get them to you as written just before things got really bad in hospital and hope you bear with me my time management really stinks right now.

So yeah Monday : That day my strength was even less, I had gotten used to not being able to hold a jug of water or fill the kettle easily, even peeling some skin off fruit was hard. That day I could feel brushing my teeth and standing would be very very hard so got to the front room and into a chair and asked my partner to get a big bowl for me to brush my teeth into. It had happened : I Wulf had finally realised down to my very inside reasoning and thought had become weak and once again figured this was it, I'm done for. Still I was happy cos I would see mum as she was kind enough to give us a lift and come with us tot he hospital and I felt very happy seeing her because as she said before 'my son comes before work' and that meant the world to me - it may seem odd to people the obvious making me feel happy but it did make me happy and that always helps.

When she got arrived even walking to the car was hard and my neighbours waved hello to me and i tried not  to look as unwell as possible (my partner informed me when talking to them later that day they said how bad a shape i looked and they have helped out where they can since then which considering there own ailments is very kind of them and I have had a bit of faith in humanity restored with the amount of people willing to be nice) and waved back. Getting into the car was again hard work and i could not really lift my head very well so just slumped there whispering of sorts in response to conversation. Got to hospital and got to the waiting bit to the 'outpatients' section and waited my turn. Mum went to park the car and later said the only way she recognised me was because my partner was next to me, my face had a very sunken look to it my eyes were bulging out and I really was not me at all.

 I struggled to the Docs room and was weighed there was a nurse there too and after answering some questions and not really being able to converse properly (my partner came with me, think mum had to stay in waiting room) cant remember much of the questions. I got up on a bed and had to have a finger 'up there' again which hurt a ton and i actually felt very umm well not too manly. The nurse was really kind and helped me with my clothes as well as giving me a comforting pat too which made me feel better (man I am sounding like a total wuss here just goes to show what a mess i was in and each man really does have a limit, or at the very least i do). They took some blood and weeks later my partner said it was 'gloopy like syrup and took at least a minute to get out' I was aware i had blood sample being taken but i really could not concentrate on anything i was exhausted and could only really mumble answers. My partner also said 'after the blood was out she looked at me and gave a very concerned nod' it was then that my previous thoughts of getting a quick check out and some meds and told to come back again few weeks later were completely wrong.

 I had a wheel chair brought outside the office and was wheeled to an emergency ward which is like a holding ward of sorts before they either send you home after a little while or send you to the ward that can house you properly. And I was there for a 2 or three days. Everyone was nice and i learned how to pee in a cardboard bottle lying down -which is a bit odd at first. I had blood samples taken and had to drink a lot of water and got some nice grub (the hospital i was in had good scoff and eventually i got to choose from all menu types and could eat as much as i wanted but that was later and will go into food detail another time). Had an Olympian from 2012 Olympics in same place too very well spoken and not very happy with not being informed about what was going on with himself. Getting to the toilet was tough at times but it was a good bathroom like all the bathrooms there.

I got my first 'drip' there which was not very pleasant (first of many) and had lots of obs taken obs were observations which measure your blood pressure and heart beats and oxygen use or something. Mine was very low about 60 or 70 BP which is not very good at all, later it would increase into the 100 area but average later on when being discharged it was between 93 and 105 or so still low but a lot better than when I arrives (I always had low blood pressure since a teenager as remember seeing a doc once then and he gave me a test as routine and mentioned i had low blood pressure). Having blood samples taken is not fun at all, some people are good at taking them and others just plain suck. if you can ask for a phlebotomist (or some word like that) to do it as its there main role to take blood, failing getting them hope for a nurse and failing that prepare for pain cos its gonna be a doc and docs arnt very good at that sort of thing - they good at many other things but the practical basic stuff = beware, they mean well but umm yeah be prepared for a bit more pain than normal.

  I thought having a few blood samples was liberty enough eventually i would have dozens, and my arms were covered in the marks as well from the tubes they eventually had to keep stuffing me with. After a couple days or maybe late on on day 2 this important person appeared freaking out that i was using the main toilet and he had not been informed about me and i was meant to be in isolation as i was classed as 'infected' - that sounds plenty cool like a movie or something but its not that exciting, it means i got liquid 'stools' and as a precaution they stick you in isolation meaning i got to stay in the curtains and have a portable toilet brought to me and emptied by hand by the nurses. BUT it also means I get my own room when its available!!! Having your own room is great in hospital! And more on that another time, i will be back here tomorrow to go through the process of what happens when your in hospital with IBD/Ulcerative Colitis and maybe if you don't have them but are facing hospital this and what follows hopefully will be helpful because i had no idea what was going to happen or anything.

TonyB said:

**** Wulf, do you know how much money you could make with the before and after pictures?! (of you, not the **** that is)

"Introducing the diet to end all diets, and possibly you, if you're a wuss!
Ingest this simple pill that may or may not cause rectal hemorrhaging and reap the benefits of near instant weight loss!
The new darling of the cat walk, it's super trendy. Need to get into that wedding dress, and only weeks from the ceremony? We've got you covered!

Please note, side effects include red farts. Do not consume while wearing a white dress.

Now for the low, low price of £99.99!"

You could be rich man! RICH! 

But seriously, glad to hear you're on the road to wellness  

Now that sounds like a good idea!

McLoudNL said:

Kixeye should hire you as a story writer... i can already imagine the nex raid :

Title: Blood Poo, the Reckoning

9 years ago captain Harlock started pooing blood now its time for the reckoning.

{Insert random Wulf Quote here}

Best of Poo Captains.

I think it would work, especially as a Monthly Raid with an uber prize. Who knows you may see this pirate with an official title for it.

Edit: and i went to a lot of trouble of making that not a great wall of text! blasted IE!!! anyways apologies for great block of text will sort it out tomorrow with the next EDITION OF BLOOD POO, THE RECKONING!

Yard

Could you summarise those posts for me in a song? I imagine it'd be interesting.

Le Wulf

Yard said:

Could you summarise those posts for me in a song? I imagine it'd be interesting.

Well shucks I really don't know what style to put it in but will try first with some good ole Gangster Rap of my youth first of all :

(not Gangsta Rap but this is one cool track, think of this style when reading)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37wSwAJ98Zk

Yo Check this my ****! about 9 years ago I had M*****F*****G bloody toilet my homies were fronting me all along and I knew only thing left to do was go buy my own Bleach! So I checked out T Dogg of the Krazy Komton Krew he that **** always had bleach for all those sheets he and his punks wears on the Friday Night Halloween parades.

and now in a The Animals 'House of the Rising Sun' Style :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sB3Fjw3Uvc

There is a house in some messed up place they called the rising stool, and its been the ruin of many a poor fool...one day I realised I weren't getting any better! in fact I was getting a whole ton worse and still I know I was nearly done. The blood rose and rose, my muscles wasted away and **** I know I was nearly done...

and now in the style of the good ole country and western genre :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RdR6MN2jKYs

Oh my woman dumped me repeatedly and it sucks because I can't do anything else other than date my daddy's sister she aint bad but she has my mothers nose and my dog ran off with her cat and they won't come back!

 Ole Betsy please come back I need you more than ever! You were right and I was wrong just please come back my daddy's sister reminds me too much of my mum!

Ole Betsy please come back I need you more than ever! my dog ran away with her cat and I need you to pick up another!

er don't blame me that's all country and western is about, maybe bit of 50s one of the greatest decades of music one can think of :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ty31QY5ZGHo

Everyday its a getting closer another stone down killing me quicker, everyday its a getting closer judgement day is on its wayay surely we will find another way some day.

wow that's a bit heavy! ok let's try something from my own youth....bit of punk!

I am the Anti Nice I am an Anarchist! I know what I want and know how to get it! I don't wanna be in a hospital! I got no balls they cut them off cos I was screaming like a little girl! The Surgeon said I gotta be in or else I die I said suck on this cos I am ANARCHY NO DOGS BODY LIVING IN A COUNCIL TENANCY!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBojbjoMttI

And now for something completely different...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ol5Dfs7jqFI

and er onto Le Wulf memoirs to update it before I start singing I'm a lumberjack.

Le Wulf

There is a ton more to write on this and will get round to completing the rather invigorating and engrossing read of my most recent misadventure.

For today though I will give what people been asking my partner about and that is how I am TODAY!/this past week etc.

Well Today I am as follows :

10.4 stone aprox (around 65 kg) my lowest recorded weight was in hospital at 7.8 stone (went through a rather bad patch after showing improvement) admitted into the hospital at 8.6 stone. My 'normal weight' was around 14 to 15 stone and when 'fighting fit' about 12 to 13 stone. My height according to medical record taken when I was in hospital was 1.88 metres / 6.1/6.2 feet (I think). Which is odd because I always thought I was 5.10 feet.

For boxing fans that is Minimumweight at lowest and now welterweight but i really should be a middleweight.


Carl Froch I spotted him early on against Dannie Hogue and knew like I always do that this guy was going to go far - made a nice sum of money from his fights too

Yesterday went to the Doctors (the one who first saw me at the practice) and he said I looked better than before and even on his notes when he first saw me he wrote 'looks terrible' - so there was me with a big grin on my face and then he adds "you still look bad though' umm so yeah I still look bad, despite me improving hugely erm I still look bad (I asked my partner and they agreed with the doc I still look bad).



For short distances I can walk relatively normally but for something like going to a shop or across the road for awhile anything beyond like 5 - 10 minutes I use a walking stick to take pressure off my stomach muscles.
Today I was looking for some ketchup in the bottom cupboard and forgot how difficult it is to get up again from such a low position (was croushing on the floor) I went to get up as I would have before and found myself collapsing acoss the floor and with a bit of a struggle got myself up again.
If I am on the beach I use my walking stick to help me up again by lifting myself up and using my legs too, with the cupboard this morning I was just using my legs and they are yet not strong enough to do that.
For a couple hours afterwards I did not feel quite 'good' nothing was hurt I just felt a bit drained by it which is a little strange for such a trivial thing.
To get up off the floor without my walking stick I sort of have to roll on my side and then I can push myself up and crawl up without having to grab onto something but it is bit of an effort.

I get tired very easily now where as before I could go on for quite some time in a physical role now I get tired just sitting up a few hours if I don't have a few pillows to relax my back on. After breakfast (to which I am not eating as much as when I first got out of hospital my partner says this is a good thing it shows my body has got its reserves and not craving food as much - I was eating a lot of breakfast ) I am often tired I take about an hour to eat it casually sometimes I take a couple of hours.

Today I ate 5 rashes of bacon, a helping of scrambled egg (a rather small one compared to normal probably only about a 1/4 of the plate)2 slices of bread (with butter and marmite) 2 slices of toast with some of the bacon in both of them, a bowl of special K cereal and I usually save the milk in the bowl and have a secnd cereal added after the first one and second for a change I put the co co pops in second.
I usually like having co co pops first because the milk turns chocolatey like it says in the adverts and so when I put second cereal in that gets choco taste too .



Before hospital I did not have cereal or even a conventional breakfast. In fact I think last time I had cereal before all this may have been ten + years! (sometimes I would have a fry up on weekends or something like that but not cereal!).
The Kellogs cereals I have because they have iron and other added stuff to it. Today was first time I had Special K normally I have frosties or normal cornflakes - frosties because it has added calcium carbonate or something like that which co co pops and the other cereals dont have, no idea what it does but it sounds good so down the hatch it goes -. I also have on average at least 3 muller 'light' yoghurts a day for breakfast too on a goo day I sometimes have 5 - currently eating on a 'all you can eat breakfast' which I make sure I get my money's worth, otherwise would be eating full fat yoghurts and full fat milk which is better for me at the moment. Two croisants one with nutella (a really nice choco spread) and one with marmite (be sure to add lots of butter makes it really really nicer). A very small portion of mandarins (like oranges but the sort I can eat and very nice I also make sure to get some of the juice into my bowl to which is quite sharp but still very nice).
Had a few small mouthfuls of apple juice and diluted orange juice in a small glass filled to the top and a capocino too.



My average breakfast before this week at this place was aprox : 8 rashes of bacon (sometimes more) two to three decent helpings of scrambled egg (decent helping = half a good sized plate full each) 4 to 6 pieces of toast with a good helping of butter on each. 2 pieces of white bread (sometiomes with nutella sometimes with bacon soemtimes with marmite - they stopped doing honey which is a pity as it was nice on my toast), 2 croissants 4 to 6 yoghurts, couple of diltued Orange juices and 1 diluted apple juice, 3 cereal bowls full - usually have to top up the milk by third bowl, 2 cappocinos and usually have one to take away too, umm think thats it off top of my head will reread bit later and probably add soemthing i forgot.

My ribs and spine and other bones no longer show as much through the skin (before you could easily see the bones) I think with all the bacon I am eating it is doing good for my fat reserves and now my ribs look covered which is a lot nicer for me to look at when I pass a mirror. My face has filled out a bit which is also nice and my eyes don't have a bulgy look to them.
There was a risk according to the head nurse who really freaked out when I was in hospital that the bone at bottom of my spine would rub through the skin and so she got a really thick dressing with foam on it so the bed would not rub me raw and cause even more problems for me. She was helping me get a gown on and if she had not seen the soreness I could have been in some severe pain in a day or so, I had to sleep on my sides a bit which is how i used to sleep but after the op it can be very painful with all the stiches and things. She made it easier by arranging my pillows a certain way two vertical at the bottom and one horizontal on top as the beds are automatic i could move the head end into a decent position to make that arrangement really effective. Now out of hospital i just use extra pillows to prop up that setup when i want to sleep on my side and when i sleep on my back i just take one down and put it across halfway up the other piloow and its very comfortable.
erm so yeah my spine has some meat on it now and dont quite look like skeletor. (if you don't know who that is its the slim fast guy in He Man) - I say skeletor but another person said i looked more like the skeleton out of super ted to which I probably have to wait another year before I can hit him for it.



This past week I have been walking with a backpack to a library takes me apros 20 to 30 minutes each way and often on return journey I have books to read when I get back and to act as bit of a weight to get my musles working and building (waste not want not, I don't want any of the food I am eating going to waste).

And Talking of waste...
I had an operation in hospital that removed my colon (they kept it for some time to make sure it was ulcerative colitis - which my GP, the First Doc predicted it would be - and not anything else. They removed the big one and I got to keep the small one. I had an ileostonomy (think thats how its its spelt) its means I have disposable bags which i replace every 2 - 3 days that are attached to the outside of my stomach and that is where the solids go into - but its kinda like 'porridge' when it comes out and if I have not taking the lop meds or eaten too much fruit/fruit juice/chocs/whatever then it gets very liquidy. I got to be careful when it gets liquidy because that is when I can get very dehydrated and also important stuff can get taken away by the liquidy waste and make me eventually not very well.
Yesterday I got my prescription of fortisips! I love Fortisips and fortijuice! apparently a lot of people dont like them but I think they are GREAT!

Fortisips are like milkshapes that have lots of goodness in them with extra protein stuck in them for good measure. I like Mocha flavour the most and Strawberry and Banana occasionally for a nice change.
Fortijuice also has what fortisips have but less protein, they are like a strong squash and also very nice. I like fortijuice as a light refreshment but now out of hospital i dont get them - i just get the fortisips.
DO NOT DRINK ANY FORI THING WARM IT TASTES HORRIBLE! Seriously make sure you drink them chilled they are really nice when chilled.

At one point in hospital (probably will repeat some of this in later posts) they were concerned about my nutritions and minerals and all that jazz and was about to have to have a pipe go down my throat to feed me, it was sheer luck I thought to ask ' if its liquid can't i just drink something instead or have the pipe stuff flavoured and drink it?
To which the Dietician Nurse said "all we can offer you is more Fortijuice "
I could not believe what she said! I can get more of this great drink! - it was what I looked forward to daily I got a few of them daily and the idea that I get MORE was AWESOME!
She and the docs were surprised at my enthusiasm as said before a large amount of people hate the Forti stuff. She even said she wished more of the patients were like me when it came to drinking them.

So today went to the pharmacy with my prescription and they gonna deliver about 50 of them (although got to limit amount of them i take daily to just 2 a day) and because theres loads of them lady said i can have them delivered tomorrow rather than try to walk home with them - which was nice



and thats all for this post for now will probably add some later or tomorrow or whenever.

Le Wulf

I managed to get flattened so waiting for docks to repair.

Currently listening to some T Rex and now just stuck this on. Surreal thing is I had a real inkling to listen to them and so stuck his album on....and then later found that day he died weird stuff like that happens sometimes all too often. First track I knowingly heard of theirs was on a Doors album it was Heroin from the music from the film. I liked that track a ton it struck a chord - not that I was on H just the stuff he was saying made a whole ton of sense to me when I was 17. Gonna need to put some Doors on after this album methinks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bARrDYnNLKQ

And onto the boring stuff :

Yesterday managed to climb up and down the stairs several times (not at once) without my walking stick, which was plenty cool I got it with me today though. Getting in and out of cars is difficult still but not as much as a struggle as before just kinda awkward. Muscles on the sides of my legs are still feeling like they on fire sometimes they numb feeling and sometimes they only feel a bit of pain when I poke them or rub them to see if they would hurt umm so maybe I should stop doing that

I can walk straight for a bit now, the stitches in my stomach seemed to have settled down (or rather the glue stuff or whatever it is they stuck me together with). My walking speed has increased especially when not using walking stick but only good for short distances. My stomach muscles start to ache faster without it and don't want to stress out at whats left under them. I use an old walking stick and my partner got a new rubber thing o the bottom of it as one before had worn away (got the stick from charity shop for £1). Physio at hospital said hje didn't think I needed one (even back at the time they were trying to kick people out early). I was stunned he wouldn't get me measured and all that with a standard one but then I should have already known the physios there aren't anything to really praise. (will go into that at some point - I just like ranting at times).

I can sleep on my left side now, took some time to be able to sleep on my right side but am pleased I can now sleep on my left side. Sleeping on my back is difficult I cannot relax the same and my breathing isn't as clear - always been like that worse after ribs got punched in many years ago.

Slowly experimenting with different food that I can eat. Last night had very mashed up parsnip and that seemed ok. Oranges still not gonna try yet will stick to O.J. as the white stuff under the skin is lethal and can cause blockages - which is a bummer cos I used to love Satsumas. Apples got to avoid but I can have them as a sauce or very cooked.

I still get to eat pasta which is plenty cool with cheese sauces (cannot have spicy sauces or tomato pastas) I might be able to have passata but not gonna try that yet, the longer after surgery the more we can eat and safer it is to experiment but not always safe. The skins on vegetables can cause a lot of problems where in people without a stoma that's the good stuff it is like a total reversal at times of what we are know since the year dot. Seeds can be a problem too. Nuts are a definite NO NO! But can have peanut butter if its the smooth one (which is encouraged to be eaten = very nice). Onions before operation and onion family would really aggravate the condition now it just stinks more when I empty the stoma - but I do not have onions a lot maybe if they are mixed in with some tinned food or I have it as an ingredient like in crisps onion powder etc. I am a little bit phobia when it comes to some foods (like onions) after what happened with the IBD flare ups. Took me some time to get used to dairy products again (another one that would send me running to the latrine) as well as dairy aggravating a short period of me throwing up in hospital body found it harder to digest on top of other factors which nearly did me in again.

I can have some fizzy drinks like Coca Cola or Pepsi but not the diet versions and they have to be flat before drinking them. Lucozade cannot have but Lucozade Sport I can have and I like the Brazillian Guava flavour one. Be aware it is not a true isotonic drink despite what it says it is best to treat it as another pleasant drink. Sports people are better off making there own (will go into that another time).

Pure water or simple water is not very good for me as it strips out the goodies in our systems. It does not really matter if you still have a large colon but after that is removed the salt and sugars and other stuff can get washed out along with the water you need itself. Saying that I got so irritated with drinking 'odd' water I do on occasion go and have normal water. But like today I got some solution which has salt and sugar in it....

The salt and sugar act as a kinda catch in the smaller colon so the goodies in my system don't get flushed out. The water does not pass so quickly through the small colon and into the bag. (If you still got your large colon usually the stuff just gets shifted along and is likely to be absorbed by it).

I drink coffee and tea but before operation that was not a good idea (and even now should only have it not very often). I remember one night at home was really peeved off at not getting a decent nights sleep cos of kept needing to run to the loo so just sat down in front of the TV and got myself a nice cup of tea...got not even halfway through it and had to go to the latrine again. I had settled down took a few sips was thinking at least this tea is good and it was comforting but bam! Was plenty frustrated at not being able to even have a cup of tea in peace. So now simple things like having a cup of tea/coffee feels like a treat.

I can drink a little bit of other fizzy drinks but find myself diluting them heavily with another drink to give it a kick and also with added water/solution. Tried hot coca cola once - I wouldn't recommend it just does not taste right and feels like it should not exist in this reality. Used to like Pepsi Max but that's a No No as it causes diarrhea which can dehydrate as well as clearing out the nutrients and good stuff before the body can process them for use.

Now listening to :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dvBjKr2LcY

I apologize for any **** ad/**** music before and at times during the album just click skip ad and it will be fine.

Went to a all you can eat carvery and was bit frustrating I could not munch on all that was too offer but had some very nice roast potatoes in good supply and Yorkshire puddings to boot with mashed potato and some apple sauce (and something else veggy wise but cannot remember) along with some turkey and pork. Did not have a drink as at that time was still unsure on eating out and figured better safe than sorry - hindsight on how long had to wait to get food would have had a coffee or something similar. Luckily I did not have to wait in line my partner had to get my food Very popular place and the quality of food certainly justifies the wait - it is waiting for other customers. If you never been to a carvery here it means you usually help yourself to the food like a buffet and then tell the chef/carverer guy what you want to eat meat wise.

An old friend of mine from school of long ago came to visit me a short while ago - he wanted to visit me in hospital but I was too tired to really have visitors beyond mum and my partner. Saw some family members but not often it was just too exhausting. So very happy he came to visit me and we caught up and had a good time - I nearly fell over re-enacting a time he could not remember about standing his ground against a wannabe bully, I threw a couple of shadow punches and wow that took some energy out of me. Very surreal feeling as used to be able to deliver body shattering blows now cannot even hit air lol I was tempted to get him to play Battle Pirates but don't think he would want to put the time into it required to get decent kit when he could be out partying. (The guy is big now and former MMA fighter I thought he looked tough several years back when we met up for first time since school but now he is built, should have stayed in touch with him after school he would have been handy in my crew in one's younger days lol).

My breakfasts now since leaving the all you can eat buffets (stopped about two days ago) is simple two bowls of cereal and a sandwich (nutella)with a proper coffee not instant. I now eat more in the evening than at brekky which sort of works because I am not as tired after brekky before needed sleep or a bit of a rest period afterwards.

Oh and another drink I seem to be ok with which is nice diluted/with fizzy/or as it is = Freeway Ice Tea Peach flavoured = very nice!

And think docks should be repaired now as well as need to do some research so ta ta for now and will at some point get back to the 'hospital days'.

Q Rich

You might be interested in https://www.facebook.com/crohnsandcolitisuk especially today.

Le Wulf

Thanks, checking it out now

Le Wulf

My health today :

weighed up and I am 10.9 and a half stone. So nearing what the lower limit of the Docs recommendation (about 70kg).

I saw a picture of me from few years back a selfie I did for facebook profile as well as seeing pics of me at a wedding. I have gotten used to seeing me weak and thin and seeing the recent changes on the body as me getting stronger (which it is) but my initial thoughts on seeing the old pictures was **** I looked like walking muscle compared to now. My chest muscles could be seen below my shirt and my face looked solid - good luck to anyone taking a swing at that. At the wedding in a suit I again looked strong sort of towering a bit over people in a very average kind of way.

I used to think people did what I said or were polite to me because they were friendly (my partner informed me it was because of my size and the 'presence/attitude' I gave off) and now they are nice and polite and friendly because I am carrying a walking stick - and people feel obliged to be that way, it is kinda humiliating in a way would rather they carry on as normal....Although one person couple weeks ago did give me a bit of mouth :

I had been staying at a hotel after I had been officially booted out/discharged from hospital. And from the hotel the shingley beach was just across the road so I went there when it was hot and not to windy. Spent a few hours there one day and felt that was enough sun for one day so gathered my book and stuff struggle to my feet - I kinda get a victory rush even when using the walking stick to get up from the floor. Left the beach just crossing the promenade didn't see anyone too near - we got bikes that use it too and it is a pedestrian right of way so its the bikes that naturally should not be going fast and should be on the lookout -.

Then I heard a rather rude voice

"I suppose you don't look out for trains either!" Said a 'moderately' built person cycling alongside his female partner. Took me a second to get what he was talking about as well as his tone of voice being of a negative nature. I took a quick look around...yep there indeed was the little red train with its passengers that takes people from one end of the town to the other via the promenade (its like a toy train attraction thing) quite some way away from me and considering it goes at the most 5 - 10 miles per hour it was in no danger of hitting me or me being in its way at all. I took a double check of where those two cyclists were and indeedy I was in  no danger of being hit by them or being in there way.

Yet here was a guy going out his way trying to get mouthy with yours truly, my natural instincts kicked in = receive hostility/challenge = me accepting - even in such a weak state (to which I am still in but not as much as a few weeks ago and the condition I was in a few weeks ago was much stronger than I was when in hospital and before entry to hospital). But the guy had been content to just give some mouth. Now my culture (from where I am from which is that town) is you got a beef enough to raise a thing you go and resolve it....not just spout some words and leave it hanging like that, its kinda like lighting a cigarette and not smoking it. My town is a nice place even had lowest "reported" crime rate in the country (take note of the "reported" bit) its people are friendly as well as a little bitchy and the layout is nice and people make some attempt at not treating it as a toilet (unlike a number of other places) so resolving things usually takes form of apologies or debates or long term bitchiness or a 'good ole punchup' - or the (what I consider the weaker elements) weaker elements of society initiate violence while someone is not looking and then walk/run off.

This baffled me that a guy would obviously be aggressive and not 'have some'. I was thinking if I wasn't having to use a walking stick to support legs and stomach muscles I would have chased after him and kicked his bike from under him for talking to me like that....then the penny dropped he spoke to me like that because he perceived me as weak and unable to do anything back - if he had stayed still he would have received the unexpected. And again another penny dropped, people have to put up with unjustified rudeness / hostility on a regular basis. I rarely got any before because well lets face it a good portion of people in the current civilization are cowards, while another portion are decently nice people who let others with 'additional requirement' go about in peace.

Was a time an "interesting" tale from me would involve real violence/money/drugs/So and So from such a place/ and a time after that an "interesting tale would involve Sector 000/Alliance such and such/so and so upsetting such and such and now its some idiot on a bike wanting to mouth off on the promenade....something tells me my life in recent years is not as exciting as it once was in my younger days. - Although was planning to go and troll the Somali pirates a bit by being bait to encourage them to come close to my boat and then opening fire on them 'for a laugh' this summer but that was before becoming weak and stuff. additional note ; it also shows how bored I am with writing all the great walls of text these past few years on kixeye forums....let alone some of the sector stuff on facebook.

Anyways today went to the carvery I mentioned in another post for an all you can eat breakfast and they had the usual stuff as well as Yorkshire puddings and hash browns and as well as scrambled eggs they had fried eggs. The Yorkshire puds and hash browns had onions mixed in with them which is a **** because I am waiting a couple more weeks before I munch on onions - got to take things slowly. Onions in theory just make our (Stoma  people) "output" stinky so that is one reason to avoid them but also different foods affect the "stoma people" (who shall also be known as biological Robocops) each differently. So a biological Robocop maybe able to eat strawberries while another will have there stoma just get totally blocked and then they have to go back in hospital for an operation and may even explode spreading there guts everywhere infecting everything around them with stoma stuff and then there could be like a plague which will go down in the history books known as Blood Poo : The Reckoning. The military forces will be puny compared to the swarms of Biological Robocops rampaging through the streets eating strawberries and blowing up and infecting more people.  I mention strawberries because that is a marmite type of thing for the stoma tribe some people are fine others are very much not fine. Onion before would inflame the colon inside me and still got a bit of a 'thing' about them now. So contented myself with lots of bacon, a cup of tea some scrambled egg with fried eggs and toast. (I put the fried eggs with some bacon in the toast ).

And I promise one day will get round to writing Blood Poo : The Reckoning. Just don't complain if it lack any taste or decency.

Gonna have a swig of my water solution and scout around the forums and then might post more on the hospital stuff as this has turned into another great wall of text and need a small break (as I am sure you the reader will too).

Le Wulf

The hospital :

Missed some things out from my entry into the hospital system via the emergency ward.

First when I got there they had no idea I was enroute to them, so I had to sit in the wheelchair waiting for someone who worked on that ward to be free enough to get me sorted - due to 'austerity' hospitals are not always as well staffed as they should be. Anyways so im sitting there feeling a bit odd at having to sit in a wheelchair with family around me wondering what to do and eventually I am noticed by someone who is free and they go and get the ball rolling and I am allocated a bed in the corner next to the window which was nice. It was a very comfortable bed too. One that could be adjusted with buttons and the mattress felt great. For a very long time parts of my back had been aching (like years) and just sitting back onto the bed as weak as I was my muscles just eased (what was left of them anyway) and if they could sigh in happiness they would have done.

Had a cotton bud swabbed up my nose to make sure I did not have any superbugs.

Met the medical team (think that was what they were called - there were two teams I met one was surgical and one was medical. Medical dealt with curing things with medicines and surgical dealt with chopping people up) My family were there when they turned up at the bedside. Dr Li/Dr Lee (never did find out how he spelled his name) was leading that side of things and he had such charisma and a positive attitude I felt great when he was around, when they left after giving me a brief I was plenty optimistic of sorts about my survival chances. Pop some pills have some steroids and I might be ok after all (or something like that).

The bathroom I learned to find out where it was early on (for obvious reasons) as well as keeping wits about for backup bathroom in case that one was in use. At that point when I needed to go I really needed to go.....Going back a bit to last year sometimes I could hold 'things' in for a number of hours and that ability decreased over time to the point soon as I felt something I knew I had anything from say 5 minutes to 0 seconds. There really was no control by the time I was admitted to the hospital this year.

The hospital bathrooms I found were nice and practical and easy to use as in spacious and plenty of room for your stuff and they were all private bathrooms meaning only meant for one person at a time which was also nice. Getting to the bathroom from my bed in emergency ward was sometimes ok and other times bit of an adventure. I mentioned earlier about the brain not getting the blood to it fast enough and on the ward it was no different I would get about halfway there (sometimes could make it to the door) and whoosh I would not have the mental function to stay standing straight up. Sometimes I would just stop and sway about with my arms in the air trying to balance me on auto pilot before I just swayed right over. I would be vaguely aware afterwards that I had just stopped and to anyone watching they may have thought I was a bit of a nutter just standing there swaying in the none wind with my arms in the air. Couple of times I remember making it to the door and pushing myself through it and having the door handle take me weight stopped me from falling over.

They occasionally take samples of pee and for that I had to do it in a bottle - wasn't like 'pee now!' it was when I needed to go then I did and then let them know it was ready. Being in a none too strong position I learned like the others on the ward how to pee and it not being obvious that was what I was doing - I copied the guy opposite me. First few times it was weird peeing laying down on the back (this is like an instructable in case anyone reading this has to go through the same thing) years and years of the body knowing not to pee laying down and in bed has to be ignored which is a bit difficult. I thought of just relaxing everything putting my 'gentlemanly bits' straight into the bottle and letting them relax in there for a number of seconds and then breathe slowly and mentally 'give permission' for things to let go down below. On not being obvious I would simply raise my legs as if I was doing a situp with feet soles flat on the mattress the bottle between legs (under blanket of course) and nobody is the wiser or at least the façade of not being the wiser. Standing up to pee in one of those things is simple you just dangle yourself down into the bottle and pretend your at the urinal like normal. In a ward I was in later the guys were complaining about not being able to pee in the bottle so I include this bit to help out anyone who gets in that situation. - I found thinking of a beach with the tide coming in really warm like bath water and then letting go helped if got stage fright.

Going to post now as have to go AFK (maintenance thing) and will hopefully be back shortly.

Le Wulf

My very own room

As mentioned earlier an important looking person came rushing to my bed after couple maybe 3 days (don't think it was longer than that) looking plenty freaked and literally ordered me to be isolated and the curtains came round and komode ( a chair you sit in to do your 'business') was brought in. Will post a picture or something later of one - back in the old days say about 1700s and 1800s conversation was paramount around the dinner table and some people used komodes to eat at the table and let loose there into the komode rather than interrupting the flow of conversation.

After that for a short while maybe a day or so (due to amount of drugs and vitamin deficiency that assisted mental faculties cannot remember exactly) was taken to my own room soon as one became available. The ward with the medical team on was way full so they had to put me on another one that was 4 floors up. So the medical team had quite a journey to get to me for briefings. I vaguely remember the entry into the room they (couple of female nurses) had to move a people winch out the way (thing that helps people get up from bed and into chairs) as it was obstructing the path of the bed to the room by blocking the wall opposite the door. (I got to use the same bed from emergency ward having that familiarity was a comfort of sorts).

I liked the room it was basic but had some chairs and its own sink a thing to put my feet up if I wanted to sit in one of the chairs. The bathroom was nice it was opposite my bed (separate room). The windows were on one side were massive and could be opened and closed. At this point I kept them closed as my body could not generate enough heat to keep itself warm with a breeze of any kind.

Where my entry into Emergency ward was all smiles and bit of molly coddling from the staff my initial entry into this war and private room was somewhat cold initially. The nurse seemed quite harsh as she came to greet me and the staffer was told to get me water and a beaker. (have to drink lots of water in hospital). The staffer just looked like a walking attitude (and I was very right with my first impressions of her). She came back with an old beaker it had scratches/cracks in it and although clean it looked quite beat up. She even had her fingers on the inside. and put it down with an attitude. I knew I had to be nice to her despite any attitude or unprofessionalness shown by her (as well as hostility) otherwise something uncool - not sure what- could happen.

The actual nurse turned out very nice and I liked her no BS approach I always respect that (note there is a difference between staffers and nurses in functions they do and such things, 99.9% of both staffers and nurses were/are fantastic) But the initial entry onto the ward I was unsure what to expect was handed some pills in a small container. I had taken some pills while in emergency ward (not sure what) but these included some plenty big Fckers! I saw them and was like wow I have difficulty with basic paracetamol I usually have to bite them in half and swig them with water. But these had a couple of BIG looking ones. I said to the Nurse I have difficulty with pills and she said 'take them with water' and left me to it. I was hoping she would stick around in case I started choking. I geared myself up by taking the smallest pills first to get the mouth and stuff used to taking pills (note : basic paracetamol/lemsip used to get me high that is how rare I took pills/drugs - with exception to my teenage years of course. So taking all these was bit of a challenge) These pills included Steroids, paracetamol, iron supplements, Thiamin pills (I think it was Thiamin) a vital thing for the body, and other vitamin supplements. The big pills were also supplements I later learned. I used to eat things by scoffing it down fast and often gulped my food with minimal chewing especially chips (for the Americans the chips I mean are not the thin ones you get in wrappers, chips I mean here are big horizontal things made of potato and go with fish/allsorts) so looked at the shape of these pills and thought fck it they just big chips...just think of them as big chips and i'll be fine ...so that is what I did and voila somehow I managed to swallow these two big things with water and not much fuss think my body just got on with it. In time the iron supplement was the hardest to swallow out of the lot because they don't have a coating on them or very minimal and just as well they were small. If you kept iron pills in your mouth too long they just fell apart and made your mouth taste horrible along with anything you ate afterwards.

I had to take a lot of pills, think on that ward it was few times a day and at least 4 to 5 pills a time the supplements I think I only took once a day (for vitamins). The steroids I was taking were really powerful and initially worked very well at kicking **** on the ulcerative colitis. I had to give details on every time I went to the toilet like amount of times and the thickness on (there was a chart/scale of 1 - 7 varying from healthy big solid ones to 7 being not good at all = diarhea) as well as if it was blood what sort of blood was it ie new or old (colour of blood represents age bright red = new) .

The amount of times reduced and I could eat a ton I loved hospital food problem was there was a lot of 'trigger' foods and at that point I was on the generic diet everyone was on but I managed to avoid the trigger foods and kept a close watch on what I was eating. As mentioned earlier some foods would set my guts off and at this point I really needed to retain as much food as possible. I was given a very regular supply of fortisips and fortijuice and after my first day in the ward I felt really welcomed by everyone (with exception to the staffer mentioned earlier but then she had a negative attitude to everyone andsaw herself as good and all knowing - how very wrong she was - she even gave some of that attitude to other workers there but I noticed it was only to the foreign one/s...interesting that, she picked her tude receivers carefully maybe). When I was 100% dependent on the nurses and staff as well as being very weak/knocking on the next word's door I had to be very diplomatic and 'pretend' I did not know any negs towards myself...although I would dearly have loved to tell her to get out the door and leave that profession as she clearly was not suited for it other than to act like a ****. - a number of years ago I was talking to someone who said there was a type of person who would go for jobs in the care industry be it mental health/social services/hospitals just so they could get an ego kick out of controlling people/being jerks, I thought at the time the person was talking rubbish but the years since then and this person also has convinced me there is a worrying % of people who do that and they know how to play the system / other workers to be able to continue to do that. These are dangerous people and thankfully only came across a couple during my stay in the hospital - the worrying % was mainly in the mental health system, that includes people who are thick/incompetent. - back on topic : I managed to bite my tongue.

I digress I was treated very well and got along with all the staff and nurses. Had some books brought in and being on the road to recovery was quickly noticeable from not having to run to the toilet after/during meals. Eating well, could not have cereal in the mornings because it had milk and that was a trigger food but could have toast/white bread with jam or marmalade so daily would have a couple of slices - sometimes more with sachets of butter and strawberry jam. Family were bringing in food for me also I had tuna or sardines in the morning with my strawberry sandwiche/toasts. Could have certain tinned fruits not with juice they had to be in syrup. - will get onto hospital survival in next post.

And going to leave it at that as will be getting a lift soon and think there is plenty more to be said but don't want to get into it and then have to rush off, so have to make sure I got my things together. (I have to take blue bag around with me with 'maintenance' thngs in it in case and will go into that in detail another time). Do not know if will be on over the weekend as got some fun things to do as well as not using my own pc cannot say for sure. I hope you guys have a good weekend too and bid you all a good day/good evening.

Have a good one

ps. am mentally writing that "Blood Poo: The Reckoning" While showering.

BloodRavenFavian

Ouch. Sorry you had to go thru that, Wulf, but it's great to hear you're doing better off. 

There's a Youtuber by the name of "Totalbiscuit" who also went thru a similar situation, although he was able to get checked soon. Good for him, too; turns out he had Bowel Cancer. It was only recently that he's done with months of chemo and was cleared (for now), but yeah, bleeding from your **** is almost always not good.

Again, great to hear you're doing well. Hope to see you on the forums soon!

Le Wulf

Thanks I will check him out, I might post on youtube myself but will wait until people say I look good - random feedback I am getting now is 'oh you look better, still look bad but you certainly look better' so for ego sake will wait until I look better/fitter.

"If you continuously compete with others, you might become bitter, but if you continuously compete with yourself, you will become better."

That quote in your sig is so very true! I like masterchef the show and found those that do compete with themselves are the ones that improve and get a really good shot at being in the finals. And same goes for the martial arts and in fact right across the board it is true. I might even win a game of thumbs war for once if I competed with myself - I totally suck at thumbs war.

-------

Today's health :

Had an emergency appointment with the GP yesterday - bleeding restarted a bit from my **** waste. As I got an appointment with the specialists in June the doc decided to go with steroids and as he said 'you done everything backwards' usually you get put on steroids and they record how things progress and in this situation they would normally look back on the records and say ah yes you can take X amount of steroids. BUT as I had left things so long and was admitted more or less straight into hospital they did not have those kind of records so had to rely on my memory during that drug induced time. Which was 20mg of steroids daily - was more straight after surgery but I remember 20 mg for the longest. According to the packet the standard dose is 20 mg to 40 mg initially and then it gets altered pending situation. Most you can take is 80 mg a day.

Steroids affect your mood and can have serious side effects they also can make you feel very good - as well as bipolar. So taking steroids for 'laughs' is really not a good idea, I think bodybuilders and athletes who take them are a bit mental - or anyone who takes them without having a medical condition requiring treatment with them for that matter.

So until I have an appointment with the specialists I am on 20 mg a day and they taste quite foul, took first load yesterday at lunch time and today just after breakfast. So I don't forget will do them daily as routine after breakfast.

and stepping back into my time in le hospital :

Survival!

Be nice to everybody! pending how long and how much drugs and how ill you are this can vary in difficulty. I am one of those people who can be left well alone and isolated and will be very happy - in fact I would go as far to say I am usually happier left well alone and the more isolated the better, but I think people on these forums get that impression too, one of the reasons is that I don't have to listen to people whining. - Anyways be nice to everyone.

In the first main ward I was in was called Eartham ward and that is where I got my own room. It was really nice there and changed much of what I had prejudged hospitals to be like. On leaving the ward (to go to surgery) I knew I was not being sent back there and would be sent to intensive unit afterwards/ high dependency unit after surgery and from there be put onto an open ward. On leaving the ward couple weeks later I knew I would miss the nurses and staffers and docs there and I still do oddly enough.

At this stage it is still very early on when I was admitted to Eartham ward and feels like a different lifetime now. I was doing plenty of red in le bog and when I saw myself in the bathroom mirror I was shocked. I was surprised awhile ago but seeing myself in the much larger mirror of a hospital bathroom mirror I could see myself in full. As said before it was like Skeletor/Bones/a starving POW you see in documentaries. I always felt a pang for those POWs left to starve and it is probably why I would bite a bullet rather than surrender in case I ended up like those guys...and yet seeing myself in that mirror I was as wretched as them - **** knows how they managed to survive those camps I could barely survive getting up in the morning it felt.

I didn't shave even though I wanted to do something that made me feel somewhat civilised but there was a couple of reasons not too :

one I did not want to see my face if my body looked that bade then shaving myself would only reveal more (today mum reminded me how she did not recognize me and thought something rather negatively when she saw me sitting down in the waiting room before she realised it was in fact me) of what I did not want to see.

Two it also acted as a kind of psychological barrier of myself to the outside world, I had not socialized with anyone for some time and had no idea how I would cope being in this alien situation with my health as poor as it was and with other people and plus I did not know when they would send me to an open ward and there I would be socialized 24 7 with other patients. (urgh that was a task and a half to remain sane around other patients when eventually I was moved to an open ward).

So with the beard it made me feel somewhat dissociated with the current situation which helped a bit.

Being nice to everyone (as opposed to my normal straight to the point way of being) I found had its benefits I actually looked forward to seeing the nurses and staffers learned about them as they did about me in conversation and it was very nice time to be had. One of them was a pizza fan and I liked pizza and we would talk about pizza and sides and toppings and a promise we would have a pizza night when I could eat properly again - I have yet to take her up on that as still have to be careful with what I eat, but very much looking forward to it she used to manage a pizza place too so she knows everything about pizza and the best sorts combos.

So survival rule numero uno is Be Nice to everyone and it makes your stay much nicer too....plus they are responsible for your drugs. You don't want to get any 'mistakes' happening with that kind of stuff on offer.

Numero Zwei (that is number two to those of a bigoted nature)

Sleep as much as you can. Seriously sleep can become a rarity in hospital even in your own room you can still get woken up by conversations and other goings on in the hospital. As well as the screaming can wake you up too.

Nightly I heard screaming, and not the good kind of when your interrogating someone. This screaming was something you don't even hear in horror movies. One feels better about there lot when you hear someone else in that kind of agony. As Jas of the Fangs said on my FB page when giving advice on the 'mr tough guy challenge' I know a little about what you are gonna do. Its mostly mental. When it starts to really suck. EMBRACE THE SUCK. When it gets bad look at those around you and take joy in their pain. That's what I used to do back in the day lol.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Szi4vr-iDnI

(I could not compete in that due to this, however I do plan on getting fit again and strong wnough to do assault courses and maybe eventually be in condition enough to do Mr Tough Guy - was due to do it this year nettle warrior and the January Tough Guy challenge next year but not gonna happen just yet. - it is not a simple case of just getting stronger or fitter or just recovering from surgery. It is a combination of both as well as having a perma hole in my stomach and the body is where a lot of strength is flowing. Surgery was 5 stab wounds and a stoma plus removal of my large colon in case you are just reading this post and do not want to spend an age reading the above posts. So one day Mr Mouse I will take your course on and beat it with a grin on my chevy chase - probably few years but will do it or the equivalent of it if it stops by then).

I think Jas and my Granddad would get along very well, he has a similar mindset in enjoying other peoples pain and think I picked a bit of that up from him.

So the nightly screaming was certainly something to keep one a little bit awake at times. I had no idea where it was coming from other than it was in a very different part of the hospital well away from my part...and that's a lot of walls and distance for those screams to travel. Much later on, in another ward after surgery I found out what all that screaming was this guy :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3LODyZSXT8

(sorry about the adverts youtube really sucks with that)

The film is Virtuosity in case anyone wants to see one of my role models as a teenager in action. I learned a lot from that scene.

Well maybe the screaming was not from that guy but I think women giving birth would appreciate having a conductor to help them stay in tune. After the stay in hospital I do not under estimate the pain of giving birth, seriously those screams were genuine not the pleading kind of screams or a ' I really want this to stop so i'll scream now' the screams I heard there were serious screams the sort the body gives out rather than the person. They were so bad they nearly put me off my cup of tea.

On top of the usual conversations between staff and the rather inconsiderate screaming (I could hear staff talking out in the corridor and although not unpleasant in any way could on occasion make me think 'Do I really need to know this much about there private lives' - it was ear wigging as I was not trying to listen. So on top of the before mentioned stuff, there is also something called Obs and Obs were important because it could on rare occasion be useful in identifying something is wrong. They measure your pulse, blood pressure and how well you breathe (or something to do with breathing).

For me having low blood pressure meant everyone who first few times 'obed' me (or observation moi) had bit of a panic that my blood pressure was so low (oh and they check your temperature too) and this in turn had me quickly trying to explain that it was 'normal' for me and that I waslacking in blood. (due to blood disappearing regularly down the toilet bowl as well as my body not able to produce new red blood cells due to lack of all sorts and condition). Gradually everyone finally got used to Geoff (or Gel as one of the nurses called me, I quite liked the name personally, she was from another country and you get a board above your bed giving your name and basic stuff as well as 'preferred' name and it was written in cursive writing which if your not used to it can make letters look a bit odd, so she called me Gel and I introduced myself to Gel to others but nobody took it up and called me Geoff instead) being 'the one with low blood pressure'. Having low blood pressure meant I had to have 'obs' every four hours or so - throughout the day and night. I think I missed one or two throughout the day because it was steady but night time : around 10pm then around 2am and then 6 am or in more civilised terms 2200 0200 0600 / sometimes 0500.

So try getting a good nights sleep there with all that going on. BUT for me at first it was the most sleep I had because the steroids I was on were working (more on that shortly) and I was not running off to le bog so often so a sense of sanity for my bowels was returning. Problem with all these obs was you could be dosing in the evening and then they would come in (note they had to take them as it was there jobs on the line if they didn't and it is intended to make sure you don't do anything inconvenient like dying as it can put a bit of a downer on the day having someone die). and wake you up for the obs which is a thing on your finger a band wrapped around your arm and a thing put in your ear. The thing that goes in your ear is your temperature taken and the other stuff no idea. - although recommended for medic in certain place I found learning to ambush much more fun when I wasn't malingering and learning how to be a medic (I usually found I was ill with something as a teenager when it came to doing things that might mean I would be late for dinner in the mess or might have to re iron / re clean my kit too often and 'using my time constructively in learning to be a medic' - or another one I found was 'assisting the sergant major' which meant making tea in the sunshine and doing lighter than light duties with other malingerers or 'hospital parade' but I digress...) although recommended for being a medic I did not learn much about that side of things I mainly learned about how much fun bullets have when hit someone or 'not to remove a knife if its actually stopping the blood flow' or one of my favourites splints! people liked to scream when you get to play with the splints (That was in cadets as usual wont go into details after I was 16...er other than this topic of course).

So obs would happen and it could take some time to get back to sleep afterwards so would end up sleeping at the absolute maximum of couple hours straight at a time mostly it got to an hour to an hour and a half and so I dozed where I could during the day which is not easy when I had other professionals needing to do there things too.

Breakfast could take up to two hours with all the interuptions but I rolled with it on Earthham and like I said I enjoyed talking to them. Other than Obs every four hours, had drugs throughout the day first ones were at 0600 think. another load around 0800 think had some in the afternoon around lunchtime so between 12 and 1400 and then some early evening and then last ones at around 2200 or so pending the 'era' I was in on Earthham.

Also had blood tests which meant I became a pin cushion....Posting now got maintenance to do and hoping to be back shortly to finish this post

Q Rich

Prednisolone by any chance? the side effects from them are pretty crap as well. I've had Crohns for 35 years ish and been prescribed those several times over the years. These days I would just get a short nuke em course. Which is about 30 mg on the first day, and then reducing each day for upto a week.

Le Wulf

The blood tests usually happened in the morning during breakfast. Sometimes they hurt and sometimes they did not. I did not like blood tests and most of the time looked away while they took the samples. It was the size of the needle that goes into you that is kinda offputting. It's like when your in a plane and it don't feel like its going very fast on take off. Then you look outside and everything is whooshing past, kinda fun to watch and at times a bit off putting. Same with blood samples, it don't feel like theres a large needle going itno you only a little bit of one and when you watch it its a bit ew!.

The blood tests were never ending at first I naively thought soon they would stop, that was not the case my arms were covered in needle marks on top of the drips they put in me my veins took a beating and a half. Blood tests were measuring all sorts from vitamin levels to how things were progressing in my bowels too (I think).

Then there was the bed change where daily the bed would be stripped and new covers/sheets blankets would be put on as well as a fresh pair of PJs/Gown given along with soap issued and towels and other bits and pieces for washing. Usually when they changed the bed I disappeared into the bathroom and got changed into fresh clothes as well as having a wash and stuff.

Then came the cleaners, there were different cleaners for different jobs. Some would sweep the floor others would dust everything, others would do the bathroom and mop the floor and couple times a day the bins were emptied - being in isolation meant people had to wear disposable overals and gloves so the bins got filled quickly. Had cleaners in several times a day at least. Very difficult to stay asleep or drift back to sleep so usually I just chatted with them or said hi and left it at that (pending who it was) and got to reading and writing.

Oh and then there was the tea people, they came around a few times a day to distribute beverages and a few times a fay to pick up the cups again.

Afternoons were usually more quiet and you could pick a few Zzzs then. Docs would come round then for me (as my docs were several floors down) usually the docs would be in the mornings for people. Dietician Nurse would come in the afternoon as did the stoma nurse when it was decided I was getting chopped up.

Visiting hours were 1500 to 1700 and then 1800 to 2000 they sort of varied and you could bend the rules a bit but not taking the piss amount.

So when unable to sleep I got back to writing RPGs current one is one I been playing around with for awhile  and lost a ton when my system went kaputzed so with the garbled rules and stuff still in my head I got on with writing the starting tutorials for it all over again which was fun. Also was reading books which helped keep my mind active.

Evenings after 2100 were quiet other than the drugs/obs and tea visits. So as you can see not always time for plenty of sleep. Get the sleep when you can because if you don't and your in for longer than a week it will get to you physically/mentally.

I was at one point very tired I went from being quite a happy chappy as having a nice room with decent facilities to use and sort of on the mend with good food and all that to being just plain tired and unable to be cheerful I was just too tired. One night it got very silly...

Had some obs during visiting hours nothing new there but it had been a couple of times and was being very intrusive for something I knew was going to give same results as it had done a ton before. Then when visit was over I went and got myself in the bathroom for maintenance and came out voila there was another ob machine waiting for me, I was not a happy chappy. It was getting ridiculous the amount (as mentioned earlier unless the staff knew I had low blood pressure and accepted for me it was normal it could get a tad bit repetitive ) of obs I was having and how intrusive it was every time thinking can relax oh theres another obs. I was told yet again it was because my blood pressure was so low they needed to check it regularly blah blah - this occasion I was actually pissed off and I told them so - on went the arm band on went the finger thing in went the ear thing and lo and behold my blood pressure had 'improved' in fact it had been the highest for a very long time. They said oh it seems ok now, I pointed out it was 'ok' because before I was relaxed and calm and happy and now I was just pissed off hence my blood pressure was 'normal'. Personally I think a relaxed happy person is better than a disgruntled stressed and pissed off person but the system don't always see things like that.

Think it was that same night or shortly after at after an ob around 2300 I left my room and spoke to a group of nurses saying I just cannot have anymore obs in the early mornings they are exhausting me and....they agreed! they said we know and that is what we were discussing just now. So I had there backing on being able to be left in peace during the early hours (until around 0600). It may not seem much but when your trying to recover (at this point was trying to recover on steroids) and already weakened and rebuilding etc it just baffles all logic you would be denied sleep. So thankfully it got where I could get some sleep. - note in order to keep your sanity according to specialists reported by the national news you need at least 4 hours straight sleep to maintain sanity and health. There are probably exceptions varying with individuals but that's what they say. 

There are also random times when a porter will turn up and say you got to go and get a scan done - most of the time you will have no idea you are due for a scan they will just turn up out of the blue and you got to go there and then. I had a few types of scans CT Scan is where you get put in a big machine and your not allowed to eat anything for an age before and another one is the X Ray. CT Scan you get some radiation thing stuck in your veins to light up your body for the scan and it takes lots of pictures and the computer then assembles them. This scan was the hardest for me at first because had to raise arms above my head lying down and my muscles felt it and my body certainly felt it. Quite difficult for me to get along with that one both times I was in there but the ladies doing it were very helpful.

The X ray had two different scans one was for the guts and the other for my chest. I cannot remember which time as had a few for my chest over the weeks but x ray person asked me to stand up to the machine so I did but was in a very weak state and standing was an achievement on its own got to the machine and was swaying, really struggling to stay standing and radiologist saw this got my hands around the machine to hold onto the handles at the back and that helped a ton. For the guts you lay down and its quite a quick affair.

Now when it gets to being taken back to your room/bed that is quite a random affair. There are no times or arrangements of when someone will take you back to your room/bed/ward.  It is a matter of chance when a porter will be doing the round and walking past that location. Now as you probably can guess having a patient who is classified as 'infected to be in isolation' who also happens to have IBD and has little time to get to le bog is something you would expect to be taken a bit seriously when it came to getting them in isolation and away from public conveniences....nope! One time was left outside the x ray room for 40 minutes now may not seem long but it is when theres other people about and your fear is 'can I make it to the nearest toilet if I need to' so before going anywhere with a porter have a quick go in le bog. Other times they hang around for you or time it just right - note this is not the porters at fault it is the way its done and they got a whole ton of work to do and people to deliver etc. - one of mates yonks ago worked as one and very insightful into what porters have to do.

Next rule :

If it is offered take it...unless it is the drugs.

This is where you can make your stay more comfortable.

Blankets If you get issued two blankets one day, make that your standard amount of blankets. You are now entitled to two blankets a day because you got issued them once. Never ever give up that extra blanket ration. You will most likely be in your bed a lot and your bed can get messed up naturally even if you don't go under the covers...but sometimes it gets a bit chilly. So sit on top of your bed and use the second blanket to keep yourself warm wrapped around you or just on top of you, that way you got a comfy bed to sit on, being kept warm and having a nice neat bed when it comes to the late evening/night time.

Any time you are given an extra blanket not to do with your bed...KEEP IT! I was 'issued' one by a thoughtful porter one time and he said you might as well keep it with you for any other times you got to go for scans and things. So that translates in Wulf language 'Issued kit, not to be taken away unless replaced immediately by newer/cleaner kit'. Why have that third blanket? You now got two blankets for your bed, that third blanket is for you to stay warm outside your room, and from experience hospitals can be cold places and people who are able to rush around doing stuff don't always take notice of people who cannot do stuff and have limited mobility so do not generate as much heat as them - result is you can end up getting very cold without a spare blanket to wrap up in when being wheeled about the hospital. You can of course ask for another blanket but that does not always work as staffers are very busy and may forget to get back to you with that blanket.

If your extra blanket/s get taken away for washing be sure to say 'I am meant to have those extra blankets as they were 'issued' to me' This will usually ensure you get replacements sharpish.

Soap, don't throw your used soap away wrap it up in the disposable flannels they give you (like paper towels just a lot thicker and quite handy for a plethora of things) and each day when they ask 'do you need soap/whatever' say yes! keep about a stockpile of three, one is the one your using currently and two in reserve. You probably wont need anymore than that at a time as those soaps can last if they have to...because they wont always be available or if your away from the bed/room when they come round with the stuff/bed change you can miss out.

Razors, I don't know about your country or region etc, but it is always best to avoid the razors where I am. Fortunatatly I was informed on hospital razors when I was going to have a shave much later on. they are a tad bit blunt and will pull at your skin and are not pleasant at all. Ask for one to keep in reserve with your soap, but get your own razor not from the hospital - and don't borrow anyone elses get your own new razor. My razor is an old fashioned type lethal single bladed and able to use both sides of it. Best and easiest shave ever had, was going to have the old old style as had enough of the 'gillete' style ones always getting clogged up and yeah it was a comfortable shave in one sense but also very tedious. My Razor now been using several years and the blades are great. Just got to be very careful as a slight bit of horizontal movement and you got a nick if you slip or something you gonna have a nasty cut on your face. I only nicked myself a couple of times - you don't need to many reminders to be careful after the first one. But they bloody good for speed and efficiency and a ton easier to clean. (I broke my old sink bowl in last place I lived by tapping the other sort of razor to hard on it and cracked it - cracks don't get any smaller with time).

For comfort purposes as well as hygiene purposes it is best to shave regularly in hospital, as mentioned earlier I did not for my own reasons and you may find those reasons help you too. But otherwise would recommend as beards and moustaches are something else to keep clean and not always easy to do. I ended up with quite a beard and was quite proud of it  - more on that later.

Clothes, Four types of clothes are issued from top of my head, keep them all in good order. First sort is the hospital gowns these are for easy access for surgeons and others who want to be able to look at you regularly. Gowns are very comfortable but can be drafty. I recommend trying to keep a spare clean one with you. You will get issued new one daily while other one gets washed but if you can get and keep a clean spare one for 'Just in Case' you spill food down it, or it gets blood on it or you have an accident of some kind, its good to have a spare.

PJs, Pyjamas one of the best things to come out of India. You get a very nice jacket/shirt and a very nice pair of trousers 100% cotton like your gown just more respectable looking. Now PJ trousers can become a rarity in hospital so as long as they are clean do not give up your PJ trousers without getting some back in return. One lady (cant remember if staffer or nurse but she was really really good) searched the entire hospital for me to have a new pair of PJ bottoms that day. Hours later I figured she was too busy, nope in she came with a big smile and those were officially the last pair in the entire hospital! I felt plenty pleased by that, especially the coming days when I heard people complain about lack of pj bottoms. So take on board to bring a spare pair of trousers or get them brought in by someone. Then if the hospital runs out you can dig in to your emergency reserves and pull out a pair. ALWAYS use issued kit first, because you don't want your own stuff which costs more to get ruined in any way. The hospital are unlikely to wash your stuff (they more likely to chuck it out) and so having a spare pair is very important.

Eventually I found I could have a combo, my personal preference was having trousers (issued) and the gown (issued) both on at once. The jackets very handy but could be restrictive after a while for drips/blood samples/ obs etc etc. The trousers add a bit of personal respectability especially when on an open ward. Gowns and me on there own never quite got on in covering everything up. I was quite happily wondering about with everything behind me on display along with my dangly bits if anyone looked close enough I suspect - I did not know this mind and to be honest nudity is nothing wrong with but I did try to stay covered up. And failed, according to my partner I was on display regularly even when in bed. The ward nurses and staffers didn't seem to pay attention and I only noticed when a nurse I did not recognise redid my back straps to the gown (with weakened muscles could not tie them up toow ell but thought they were done well enough) while I was walking to the bathroom and another time same nurse from out of nowhere appeared and covered me up while I was sitting on my bed. Then I asked my partner and they said yep you are regularly on display for people. So used boxer shorts and later the trouser/gown combo. It was very comfortable - and having a gown instead of a jacket meant it was long enough to quickly and easily move out the way when it came to 'maintenance' of the stoma, I often wrapped it above my shoulder and sometimes used my mp3 clip (one cannot go to the bathroom without listening to a bit of metallica/manowar I maybe ill but I am not a savage) to keep it in place. With a jacket it is smaller but it means bit harder to move out the way without undoing buttons and things so the gown worked great especially if I needed to empty fast.

after surgery on the open ward I got something known as 'ballooning' which is gas filling the bag up and that can not only be uncomfortable but can also take the bag off or weaken the seal pending how much pressure is there. so having things be able to get the way fast is handy. more on that later on.

So I highly recommend when in hospital get the trousers and the gown and keep the jacket spare for if you want a change. - a change in clothing can help a bit with feeling civilised. Just wearing a gown can make you appear like Anne out of Little Britain. So do try to keep up appearances where you can, people who are not in your condition don't always understand how difficult it is and may consider you bit of a savage at times.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uU4Roswy01U

(watching that small innocent clip just reminded me why laughing is a bad idea - it pulls on my gut muscles and insides doh! lol)

Posies/gripped socks, Minew ere red as were many other peoples, I am told different colours = different foot size. Posies are great they are like manageable slippers and you will likely keep these on a lot. I went through three pairs during my stay, second pair were awesome! but had to be replaced like all good things. Posies mean you don't slip on the floor as well as being sutiable for bed use and keeping your feet warm 24 7. If you can get a spare pair get them and keep them in your reserves. I wish I could have bought a few pairs of posies they look daft but are very comfy and practical.

Long socks, Cannot remember the official name but you will get a pair issued automatically. They reduce the risk of clots in the future while you stay in hospital. Handy for keeping your legs warm and you will likely have someone helping with putting them on taking them off, eventually when I was strong enough and well enough I could do this myself. Daily I would recommend taking them off for a little while to keep your feet fresh and get rid of any imprints on your skin. They can become uncomfortable after a while so take them off for a short while daily and (obviously when you shower).

Going to post now and may post more shortly - need some grub.

Le Wulf

Q Rich said:

Prednisolone by any chance? the side effects from them are pretty crap as well. I've had Crohns for 35 years ish and been prescribed those several times over the years. These days I would just get a short nuke em course. Which is about 30 mg on the first day, and then reducing each day for upto a week.

Yeah that is exactly the ones I got!

5mg a tablet take 4 after breakfast and hope the water takes them down before I can taste them lol

Le Wulf

The above are small things that can make your stay a little easier and a little more comfortable.

 If you can imagine waiting in an open waiting room with members of the public wondering about as well as other patients you want to be comfortable. So that extra blanket can keep you warm or double up as a cushion to sit on - because not all wheelchairs are comfortable especially if you are boney and that extra padding can really help. Having fresh PJs/gown on with 'yourself' covered will help with feeling a bit civilised. The posies obviously will keep your feet warm and if you need to dash to le bog you have a reduced chance of slipping.

(if anyone is wondering what I got playing on youtube its T Rex 'children of the revolution' and 'get it on' will probably switch to another band....maybe The Doors / Velvet Underground / Beatles or maybe some Rammstein! )

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYw67f8evWo

Be sure to whack the volume up and after this version listen to the live concert on youtube! Du! Du Hast! Du Hast Mich!

Disposable flannels, handy things good for wrapping your soap up in as well as cleaning up any spills from the water jug. I tried to use the tv and it was an arm it swung down knocked the jug flying and what could have been a bit of a nightmare to clean up was quite easy with a few of these in reserves, chucked them on the floor and they took most the water up so didn't have to bother a staffer or cleaner to sort it out. Also handy for being used as a flannel oddly enough and if you feel overheated they work great when soaked in cold water and put on your face I had a couple in rotation one night trying to cool my temperature down before the next obs was due - didn't want the nurse freaking out. (it worked btw).

Note when your temp goes above 38 degrees Celsius they get a little jumpy even though for me if I am hitting 38 degrees plus I am feeling supersonic - the system though does not see this as a good thing. Officially anything above 38 = fever (from memory) and needs to be monitored. for me as said before 38+ = woohoo!

So keep a number of those spare.

Cardboard bowls, These are disposable things used to throw up in and other waste and also handy for a wash if you cannt get out of bed, someone will fill with water and if you got a couple you can have clean water for your tooth brush as well. I usually kept a few of these at any one time couple for hygiene just in case it came to that I couldn't get to the sink / bathroom and the third acted as my storage box for bathroom stuff. If you get 'them' used to seeing you with the cardboard box full of issued stuff and a pile or so of disposable flannels etc they will often replenish any reserves used which is very thoughtful methinks.

Toothbrush, The toothbrush I got issued with was plenty tough and the toothpaste aint bad either. Get a couple of brushes and keep one in reserves. I got two, I lost my own one and got one from them and it was a nice novelty one for Easter a nice bit of humour thing, everyone loved it. it would be on my desk and literally everyone who came in mentioned it and asked where I got one as they wanted it - think the stores got raided by a number of officials in that first week think it was a frog or bunny or something it looked cool. But needed another brush when it had been in hospital atmosphere for awhile (be wary longer your in hospital the more bacteria gets to stuff so be ready to swap stuff about to prevent any infections I picked a couple up - will go into that later). The second toothbrush was good and solid and still got it in use.

I got to go now as time is up for this session - I will get round to posting up on the famous leaders of the past post (cannot remember if it was on Art of War or psychological warfare will check up next session) as well as trying to catch up with Le Wulf Memoirs the Fangs are having quite a fun time in sector 255 (the star wars sector) much to certain locals not being amused with there antics. My own antics in there has been quite limited due to spending my time posting here lol! But the little I have done has got some backs up too - oddly enough not from the people I have hit. - I am in my alliance of one called Tactical Recon [KLAWS] for the hardcore/seasoned players who just want to be pirates. Still part of the Fangs Regiment personally and its nice to see the screenies of 255 battle logs and comms, may put them up too on memoirs.

So take care chaps and if anyone can guess the film with the saying early on 'And no anchovies' message me for a free back massage. Give you a clue it has a rat in it and its from my younger days. (now that has just given it away).

Le Wulf

 Water Jugs, in the hospital I was in we got these filled up twice a day as well as a 'fresh' beaker. Before long you will realise the water they issue you with tastes none too good and is usually warm. The beaker you will also notice has been around other wards and the person delivering it does not change there gloves often if at all so are transferring germs across the wards. Plus take note of how they are delivering the beakers ie look where the fingers are, do you really want to drink from a beaker that has had germy fingers in when your immune system is already being taxed a bit by your illness as well as the bugs flying about from the other patients?

The solution is simple (or at least I found it simple). Find out where the staff water machine is, I found in both of the wards I was in (with exception to my stay in intensive care due to not being able to get to it and also being too ill to care) the water machines were near the reception desks to that ward. the water from these machines is cold and refreshing. It has not travelled ancient pipes to get to the jug being manhandled by the delivery person. The water is good! So when you get your jug filled with water, empty it and then head to the water machine (it helps in not being a jerk to people before hand so they don't get in your way to decent water). Also take a couple of the disposable cups for use with your nice new water so you don't have to use the beaker. (you can use the beaker for rinsing your mouth out when you brush your teeth).

Be aware protect your stuff from the water people! One time I was relaxing on Coombes ward (the ward I went to after recovery in the intensive unit) and the delivery person came along with the water, I naturally refused as I had just refilled my jug with nice staff water. They would not take this as an answer and took it anyway with a 'yeah well I can get you fresher water'. I thought frak it if it keeps them happy....an hour later the trolley returned with the normal warm water and it was not even filled up to a litre. I was not surprised with this result.

After a very bad time for a few days my partner discovered my woes were caused by possibly drinking pure water - will go into that another time. So we started getting the 'solution' ready daily, I got myself 'issued' with two jugs, one was for solution and one was normal water (naturally both filled from the staff water machine). The solution was one salt and 5 to 7 sugar, you are meant to use glucose powder but sugar is free in hospital. Got myself plenty of salt sachets when the food trolley came round and the sugar was brought by friendly staff, they filled a small cup for me to keep on my desk.

Basically because large colon no longer exists the salt and sugar would go straight out of me being washed away by the pure water I was drinking. So making the water a bit more solid with useful things like the salt and sugar meant it would catch onto the smaller one before exit and that catches other good things that may be passed straight into the stoma bag. I made more use of fruit squashes sometimes filling them part with solution and part with normal water and sometimes I mixed the fruit squashes together. (one was blackurrant and the other was peach and apricot blackcurrant on its own was bit too strong but mix it at times with peach and apricot and mmmm!). Doing this helped keep the good things in and to be absorbed by the body. If you have not had your large colon removed then you should not (in theory) worry about replacing part of your fluid intake with the 'solution'.

If you got low salt in your system add a sachet / one teaspoon to a litre of water and drink that throughout the day it can help, also request salt sachet from the food trolley to mix in with your food.

One of the most annoying things in hospital is to be hooked up to drips, and they hook you up to a ten hour one when you are not getting enough water/potassium/salt etc etc. Drips are not fun - unless you getting blood pumped into you and then its just scrumptious! I could go weekly for blood it feels so darn good! just as well I only got a couple of them otherwise I might grow some Fangs and have a party.

Couple people I noticed had bottled water brought in. My fave water when working outside was Volvic later there was a thing on tv about them adding sugar to the water, which I thought no wonder I liked volvic more than evian because volvic gave me that little extra boost. Highland spring is nice too when working no idea if they add anything to it or if its got minerals but evian just sucks for working outside with. I did request Perrier to be issued last year on a contract and got bit of a 'look' from the supervisor.

Also if you not into tea or coffee you can get 'Bovril' served to you instead when the tea person comes round. Bovril is like gravy and it tastes good! I am told it also helps with your salt levels.

And that's it for harmless issued stuff...now onto the good stuff!

Yard

Didn't think I'd end up finding a segment about water so interesting, but sure enough...

Warm water sounds disgusting. Finding the water machine was a clever move, I honestly doubt I'd have thought of it. Also, I don't really drink bottled water so obviously I'm out of the loop, but I didn't know they still sold Perrier.

Le Wulf

According to google shopping Perrier is still out there...and even in cans! Some days I find it very difficult not to be a little bit trolly to certain types of supervisor - always keep a straight face as if its a very serious affair and your **** is covered

Was a time I thought people buying bottled water were insane...but alas I have on regular occasion been tempted by the shiny labels as I opened the doors to the fridges to get a blast of cool air while picking out a milkshake. (which reminds me need to get a frijj brownie one if they still do them). Couple days ago had a nice milkshake home made, partner made them: ice cream, cheap banana milkshake store brand and an added banana stuck them in the blender and voila very nice milkshakes. Nice and thick like you get in the takeaways and got steel straws very very nice combo. Steel straws make it even cooler when drinking and I suspect make them nicer tasting too.

Currently listening to the Rocky Horror soundtrack :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Unl1MxubYN8

far too addictive some of those songs.

I am at times now forgetting to take my walking stick when going out or up and down stairs, which is good in one way but not good in another. I can walk ok now and feel I can walk longer without getting tired. But I can still feel it in my body when I go without it for a short distance. House stuff is fine meaning if I was to go down the shop/park/beach etc. I tried doing the stairs without the stick today and although while doing it I was fine (legs had a little shake on holding me up but I didn't feel it too much), afterwards felt somewhere around my stomach aching a bit and bit of a pang around there, so will carry on using the stick for a while longer up and down the stairs, bit infuriating when I am carrying more than one thing but its better that then being told off by my guts.

I keep being reminded that I am recovering from a major operation and I should take things easier - I mentioned I had moved a few things out the way at home and was tired afterwards - mum said "women who have had a ceasarian don't do that for at least 3 months after and you had much worse than that." No idea about the truth in that but fact my mum is telling me to stop doing stuff says something - she is normally the sort who would put a boot up the backside. - one time I had overdone my back muscles at work and could hardly move, went to get a drink of water and got a nice friendly 'DONT FEEL SORRY FOR YOURSELF' thankfully all these years later I live with my partner rather than be a basement dweller. So a 'take it easy' from her is something I probably should take notice of.

My throat feels a bit odd not quite right no idea if that's the steroids or hayfever or a cold (a cold in this weather?). Yesterday went to the all you can eat breakfast again (seem to go there weekly now) my appetite isn't as ravenous as before when doing the 'all you can eat breakfast' thing. But this is another place and I am with mum and granddad - and theres no TV or yoghurts or cereals or juice. But they do have extra hot stuff to go on the plates and will have a bash at the extra stuff if I am there next week. Had about 6 rashes of bacon and 5 fried eggs (couldn't have the scrambled eggs as they had a lot of pepper on, I can eat the condiment pepper but so far only tried it in very small amounts and don't want to try loads of pepper just yet) had 2 toast which I put some egg and bacon in with butter the eggs were runny so it was very nice. Then had a couple of slices of bread and had a sandwiche of bacon and egg and my second sandwich was double egg. (using eggs mentioned before). If there was a TV in the place and was not with company (other than partner) would probably have stayed and eaten more over a period of time. Having said that I do feel a bit less 'wolfish' when around a ton of food and hungry so I am taking that as a good thing.

Who knows maybe I will lose my reputation for being a gannet One Christmas years back grandma put a spread on and the family got together and I was told "do not eat anything during the day, Grandma will put a spread on so eat when you get there" Well that was fine by me, I love buffets. So in I go to the dining room grab a plate and I eat at the table while filling my plate at same time ready for when I go back to the front room. Think Grandma forgot how much I eat - and I did expect there to be reinforcments of plates full of food in the kitchen....like when mum does food for special occasions. Apparently I ate most the food - and that was me taking "polite" portions too. Future Christmases there are plenty of reinforcements now and my partner helps Grandma out in the kitchen too. Going back this year as missed last few years. (I didn't want to see certain people).

Now been talking about food so naturally I suppose Food should be mentioned further in le hospital.

Cuisine pour les injured et la professional malingerer a la Hopital....

Where I am hospital food is nice! You got three types of menu depending on your condition. Mine got so bad they decided it would be a good idea that I got complete free reign of the menus and could have as much as I liked!

(My Grandma was in also and got home couple days ago she managed to get 4 puddings as standard issue!! - Grandma is less than half my size and at my lowest weight in hospital I was just a stone heavier than her, so four puddings on someone the height of a hobbit and skinny as a weasel one is a tad bit surprised)

When in hospital (or anywhere for that matter) basics terms work wonders in your favour, there is so much ambiguity in certain way things are done that certain wonderful words in the English language put to use can be highly effective in getting what you want. This may work for 'food rations' as easily as it does with extra 'issued kit' and that wonderfully brilliant word 'orders'.

So before going on about the food which wont be much thinking about it (I rarely plan on what I post usually just go with it, which is probably noticeable). Let us delve into that word Orders.

As far as this little somewhat naïve pup the world evolves around the word orders. It does not matter where your humble narrator is things happen because of orders. They come from people much more knowing than petite moi and therefore who am I to question such things. And if I am not going to question them....then the person I am informing of the orders has no place at all in questioning them either. A blank face and a 'tru conviction' that these orders are in fact the absolute is all that is needed to make things go well in the world.

 I like to think Mars may appreciate my various interpretations of orders from the powers that be over the years and my use of those interpretations.

You need to develop a certain mindset when it comes to the wonderful world of orders . The main thing is that anything and everything a person of superior rank sais is the absolute and therefore an order. And if you happen to disagree and they don't see your reasoning, you got a simple path of two choices, one can be to find the words used and see if you can interpret them (remember your a simple person in this complex crazy world - the simpler the better) if not then you can always read between the lines of what was ordered. If that is simply not doable in a believable way then next best thing (or sometimes the first pending situation) is consult another superior/professional/group of colleagues - in that order. er but I digress and should get back onto hospital.

Basically Issued kit, like your gowns, pjs, toothbrushes etc etc anything you acquire from the hospital by another person from there should be classed as "issued". Issued means that someone up the chain of command has decreed that YOU! should have this kit. Now it may turn out it was just a thoughtful porter who thought an extra blanket would be nice for this occasion....but YOU do not know this, as far as YOU are concerned it was "Issued" and who told the porter that you should have it? that is not for you to question. Who knows how these complex machines of command and supply work. You are there to trust 100% completely in this system that has "Issued" you with the extra blanket and therefore it is now part of your standard kit. "standard kit" = your basic requirement. Nobody can mess with that otherwise they maybe messing with Orders from above.

So you get "Issued" something that is now your standard requirement to duty/recovery/whatever. Not many people want to be in a position where they may be affecting your task of recovery especially if a question from somewhere would be 'why did you feel it necessary to take X away when he had been "issued" it?' 'why did you think you knew better than I the person who gave that "order"? ' and other such things.

Get used to using the word "issued" for example :

"I was specifically "issued" that blanket when going to X rays to keep my body warm, and I was told to keep it with me from now on" So here we have two orders in effect : first the person "issuing" the blanket might have been ordered to get me an extra blanket as well as informing me through chain of command that I am to have an extra blanket" Now as you may have guessed by now one is not there to question orders I obey them because the person giving them knows better than I. Wonderful things orders, learn to use them effectively everywhere you go.

 (for those in the military, 'carry on' sometimes can be interpreted as an order too - just expect a serious bollocking if you do use it, and hope there are other officers about especially if it was a sergant major who told you to 'carry on' keep a straight face a somewhat puzzled/hurt look and say 'but you orderd me to carry on ' ) You may get seen as an imbecile or someone too clever for there own good but sometimes it is just plain worth it). If your still in school get into drama class / after school club and get learning as it can go a long way in the wonderful world of the future.

So now you should have the right idea and mindset on the words "Issued" and "Orders".

Food Rations comes under the command issued. And being sensible now if you get into a really bad situation where you have to watch what you eat the three types of menu combined can assist you. The menus are handed out the day before one for lunch and one for dinner, your breakfast comes around by a happy lady and she does the cereals and gets your toast/bread organised as well as marmalade/jam or if you don't have them you get extra butter rations. (use one butter ration per slice of bread and keep the other sachets for use at lunch and dinner, they go well with potatoes and other stuff, mix it into your food if you are malnourished it is a good way of getting some fat and salt etc into your body from the butter as well as given a nice extra bit of flavour to your meal).

Menus are handed out and you tick off what you want, it can be hard to know what is in the standard menu ingredients. Before surgery onion family (including leeks) could set me running to le bog/ flare things up more on the insides. So you may need to pick through your food to get it out. If you don't have a problem with food you will find the meals very good, they pack in various ingredients so you are well nourished.

Second menu is the High Protein diet, with this and the third menu the ward itself informs the kitchen that you are to receive this/these. If the kitchen messes up the standard menu its not seen as a biggy but if they forget/miss someone on the high protein / third menu (pureed) then it is considered serious. Remember the term "orders" and "Chain of Command" - plus the people looking after you want you to get better so they not going to be happy if your issued menu food is not coming through. Inform the trolley delivering the food as soon as possible if you have not got your food from the High protein menu / or the staff nurse (head nurse of the ward various names go by) the staff nurse is basically the one you do not ever want to piss off they run the show and I found them well on the ball. Kitchen's don't mess around when they got the Head Nurse on the phone to them. Even the other nurses can get growly with the kitchen if theres a mistake and so even if they look tired and a bit ratty as we all can do, they will still fight your corner proper. So keep in mind to treat them with respect.

Theres a thing in my country about foreign workers in the hospitals, my experience was very positive. I saw no difference in professionalism with exception to (I will assume from Phillipines) when I required assistance (will go into later time) they did not mess around head nurse saw what was needed and got straight on with it along with the other guy and I was amazed at how quickly it got resolved and I was back in proper order of things. I mention this because certain comedians for live acts have a dig at foreign nursing/doctors in hospitals - ignore all comments because the standards are good and maintained by 99.99% of everyone regardless of country.

High Protein menu comprises of specific items without extra sauces/ingredients added. I don't have the menu still but it never changes. You look to the HP menu see what you want and write it clearly on the standard menu and then on the standard menu you tick off as normal your veggies, pudding, rice/potatoes etc etc. I really liked the HP for example you got chicken breast, each time I got one it was very solid and took a good part of the plate up, they don't muck around if your on HP menu. I would recommend ticking off extra gravy on your standard menu especially after surgery. After surgery I had to cut it up fine and mash it into the gravy and let it rest a bit and then eat it. Sometimes I could not eat it which was very frustrating (not because there was anything wrong with the food, may go into the unpleasantness later time).

You also get choice of fish, baked potato, extra cheese and biscuit ration (remember "ration" = "issued" = "ordered from above"), and other food that escapes my memory right now. With baked potato you get choices of tuna, beans and extra cheese. Be advised the tuna ihas mayonnaise mixed in which is good but if you want to avoid mayonnaise (for ingredients directly after surgery I had one was cautious) its not too helpul, if you kept your butter rations/requested extra butter rations at breakfast you will be fine and also if you managed to acquire more cheese and biscuits the cheese can go with the potato too. The baked potatos vary in size so be advised to get extra grub off the trolley if yours bit too small for your "requirements".

The fish is nice so don't be too worried about potential germs etc only one I would avoid from trying them out is in the purred menu.

High protein is as it states for people the Docs / Head Nurse / Dietician authorizes who need that extra boost of simple food.

Got to do some maintenance irl so posting up now and maybe back if fleets aint repaired yet (using BCs on FMs). More to do on food

Le Wulf

Warning do not watch if you have stitches, something like stitches or are recovering from having stitches/something like stitches.

Watching things like this is very bad for me physically, I made it to 57 seconds before the giggles turned into laughter and had to flick the switch off. Sometimes I like to think I have a sophisticated and well cultured sense of humour....but then I come across something like this and am reminded that my childhood roots still run strong in me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CgbcQIT7BMc

My second attempt at watching this got to 1:16 before I had to use sheer force of will to flick it off before my guts went into overdrive of painful pangs.

So there you go humour is a big no no at the moment.

Le Wulf

Wow it has been a month already since leaving the hospital, or at least since I came back to Battle Pirates. I would like to point out to everyone who does not play BP they should do as I have it on good authority all those that play other kixeye games are not man enough for the world of BP.

Back onto the food thing :

third menu is pureed food and for me was my favourite. As usual finding this new found menu and broadcasting it to anyone who would listen brought looks of 'are you **** nuts' when I was saying how nice liquidized food was. Some people gave me that look when I first tried the standard menu so you can imagine the subtle reaction to being informed they really should try it.

At the time of being issued with this extra menu eating food was very difficult for me, I cannot remember why think it was every mouthful felt like a kick in the stomach to me and I was getting very concerned with the stoma output being at times very liquidy as that can take a lot of good vitamins out.

Got quite confusing in hospital with timings and the whys and why nots, the drugs I was on I think got to me after a while along with the extended vitamin deficiency for my mentality to function, plus a fear of sorts at times that the powers that be may make mistakes in what they see happening, plus trying to keep my sanity and all the while since entering the hospital (and before) having zero testosterone to speak off. Before this I did not really pay much attention to it, but being without it in the abundance I once had is a bit odd - I noticed the difference myself recently when being put back on steroids, I said to my partner this feel like I used to always feel and they agreed I was much more 'like my old self' when taking the steroids treatment.

without sounding like a sad case who strives to be an alpha male (or as I often think of 'them' a **** head who does not know good manners/civilised behaviour - note alpha does not = leader despite what the media tries to state in various shows) I truly felt like a total Beta male when in hospital and coming out of it again. Think old woman would probably be more accurate a description - and not the cool kind like my Grandma or Nanna, Grandma was still breaking into military bases well into her 70s and Nanna she was still picking fights well into her 80s. (Grandma did not like nuclear weapons and Nanna was bit of a thug by nature).

So this last week I been feeling a bit more pumped up thanks to outside chemicals and thinking what a wuss I was in hospital. If I had seen a TV show of me in hospital (and before/bit after) couple years ago I would have said put the poor sod down, slip him some powerful drugs and do him in his sleep. As back then I would not have believed I would have coped in such a condition nor wanted to survive such a humiliating 'self of being'.

The steroid effect certainly showed on my landlord  and the plumber yesterday - ongoing issues with the house hold - I tried to be nice and understanding even though I knew the issue was not in my area. But the landlord insisted they needed access to the floor boards yet again and voila the plumber came and gave no bs that my area was not a problem at all. My demeanor was far from the happy munchkin host. (now got hundreds of dvds and books to put back on the book cupboards yippee!).

And back onto food :

The deserts from the pureed menu are very very nice! Sponge stuff is good and my favourite was a chocolate pudding with vanilla sauce (Came as one) then I also ticked extra custard option and I mixed it in with the pureed choc pudding. The whips were good too pity they don't come in bigger tubs

Sponge puddings and swiss rolls are good for me because they make the output more solid it acts like a binder I think. Choc stuff is good for me because its got good calories for someone needing them. I was regularly told to get the cheese and biscuits and when I finally could digest the cheese in small amounts I mixed it in to my potators/mashed potatoes as well as the butter too (and extra salt).

When the food trolley comes round keep your eyes open and use your ears excessively. Listen to the other patients and the nurses/staffers bringing the food. All this is information on what maybe available as left overs. Often the kitchen makes mistakes on orders and sometimes the ward orders more food than needed. This is because of patients being discharged/moving wards and when you get new patients in they need food to. If in doubt a good ward will order a good few extra meals when people move on. I always asked when feeling up to it for left overs ie do you have any cheese and biscuits/extra puddings or sandwiches or any fruit. Accept all that is left over. Most time Nurses would say we might do, we will finish giving out the normal orders and anything left over we will let you know (which was really nice of them). So often I would have extra puddings unfortunately I could not always have the sandwiches because they were brown bread (very bad for me) but if they were going to go to waste (or I had forgot to put white bread on my own menu when ordering) I would scrape off the fillings and either mix it with main meal or just eat it off the bread - my favourite was egg and watercress sandwiches. Tried the ham sandwiche a couple of times but egg sarnies are better imo.

Yoghurts are good there too but the very best ones are the full fat yoghurts - ignore the low fat stuff, the full fat stuff is proper yoghurt and tastes way better and is more healthy (if you got malnutrition/need bulking up) they come in decent size pots too. I was allowed to get (usually) first dibs when I asked because if you have not already gathered I was a tad bit underweight.

Another good pudding in hospital was the ice cream, this stuff was great! so great unfortunately it came in small tubs. The ice cream company was 'franks' so if you see his ice cream in the stores you got Wulf's endorsement its nice stuff.

If you got the strength to do so get around the ward, my ward had several rooms so if there is a communal ward room then you can get to know people better (ours had one but no tv and nothing to bring people out of there beds to socialize which is a pity). If you get to know various people you can get to trading goods for things like puddings.  ie you order ice cream and you can have my soup (soup comes round about half hour to an hour before main dinner in evening) and you can work out various trade offs on how to acquire foods for each other.

Fresh fruit is good in hospital, unfortunately I could only have bananas all my other fruit has to be cooked/stewed and they don't do that in hospital. I can have some of the fruit in the pudding menu as it is canned but only had that on occasion as can get the canned stuff cheap enough brought in from the shop.

My fave meal in the pureed menu was Beef and gravy - does not sound very good but it was the best, pity it was also in rare supply so be sure to get it whenever you can. If the kitchen does not have beef and gravy then they will randomly allocate you another dish from the main pureed menu, be aware not all pureed food is wonderful! The fish is really bad, it does not sit well when you eat it, it does not taste good, and the smell lingers. I felt quite off after having it. So on the pureed menu cross out everything you don't want and/or put your second/third option down too (and make it clear if not got beef and gravy this one instead please).

Every dinner I requested two ketchups and these go well with the pureed beef. In the pureed you get mash potatoes and a veggy too so I would mix up most the beef with most the mash. Think you got the peas with the beef and gravy option. (did not think much of the pureed carrots personally).

Other good dish was chicken supreme in the pureed menu. If you got a stoma and its getting liquidy output so far I have found any sort of chicken does good on firming things up down there. Pureed chicken, fried chicken, takeaway chicken all good for getting yourself back on track. Same with potatoes be they fries or roast or jackets (DO NOT EAT THE JACKET SKINS WITH A STOMA! YOU MAY GET BLOCKAGE!) and just plain ordinary chips from the chippy = very good for output being firmer. Least in my experience that's the case.

Veggies I got to eat in small quantities so not always easy to get all the vitamins and things I need. (as I also got to avoid foods with skins on at the moment as they don't digest and you don't want a blockage).

Yesterday had visited the doc (first one I saw who got me to hospital etc) he was pleased with the blood tests from last week, the fortisips have been very helpful as usual with vitamins. My iron was below the standard but it has improved significantly over time. As mentioned above I cannot eat certain foods so the doc has put me on two iron tablets a day to get the scores up. He said I looked better and for once I did not get a 'you still look bad, but least better than before' he was obviously very concerned with the blood returning and gave a few thoughts on med use/what it could be. Then added as I am seeing the specialist tomorrow (today) might as well continue with the steroid course until told by them otherwise so one more day of them at least. He also added what we need is a specific dose and duration of taking them. Shortly got an appointment with the surgeon who I first saw in hospital as an outpatient (who sent me to be admitted into the hospital) and she also is the one who did the operation on me and was there with regular checkups afterwards. This is the first time I have seen her since leaving the hospital month ago.

I am somewhat split minded (nothing new there) not wanting to go because what if I got to go back into hospital to stay or maybe being given different drugs to sort this flare up thing out or have to go back again soon for a different kind of check up - this appointment is a routine check up one booked on leaving hospital - but I am also looking forward to seeing her (Even though such people intimidate me, give me a sergant major without a sense of humour any day) because despite being naturally intimidated by such people I liked them all there. I just got to be careful with my voice, I don't actually have an accent as such. It is a generic one of the region I am from but rarely do people believe I am from my home town, and her accent is one sometimes speak with without realizing it (least style of vocals used) especially when around people with that sort of accent (despite it coming some several thousands upon thousands of miles away from me and being on a totally different continent). I sort of work at my voice of sorts and it becomes sort of natural but my 'real' voice can be very dry / sinister of sorts (imo) and other times very deep and booming - but got out of that habit of speaking took a bit of work- . A fear of mine is adopting someone elses accent and them thinking I maybe making fun of them or something which is not the case at all its just way my vocals work. Sometimes I start replacing words from English with other 'easier' words to use in there place just simple words here and there my vocals seem to have a mind of there own at times.

Addition before I go and don't have time to read through and edit this (will do it next time maybe) :

Yesterday was in a foul mood even after plumber confirmed all was good in my flat and kept ruminating about things that really don't matter. Could not shake off this attitude until finally realized it was the steroids affecting my mood and after that felt much better and was able to resolve the attitude. Made me very hungry during that time, went through half a packet of chicken roll (a processed meat I would not have touched in former days but now I can go through half a packet worth of sandwiches with it :

Average per sandwich 3 chicken slices, bit of mayo and bit of ketchup.

For a treat also used processed cheese slices (sort you put on burgers) in between the chicken slices too.

No idea how many I ate.

had my ration of fortisips too (usually save the second for late evening instead had it around 1700).

Along with a whole packet of jelly babies and a load of custard cream biscuits.

Today I weighed 11 stone and three quarters at aprox 0930.

Apologies if my posts are unclear/confusing in any way I will be getting round to sorting them out - but then I been saying that about a ton of posts these last few years

Time to go and swap some fleet repairs over before I run off to the hospital.

Anyone who is reading this who does not play Battle Pirates don't worry I don't think any less of you - others would but I understand its a man's game and not for those of a delicate nature.

Q Rich

Be wary of staying on Prednisolone too long. Over time you will find it is more effective when used is short bursts. But I've never had to recover from what you went through. Always read the leaflets that come with tablets - some are quite enlightening.

Le Wulf

Cheers, was just saying this morning "I quite enjoy being on these things, pity she did not prescribe me more", maybe just as well she didn't. 

I saw the surgeon yesterday and she gave me prescription for different type of steroids (picking up later today) that are more 'direct' than the ones I am taking now as in they will be targeting the specific area rather than these ones im taking now which affect the entire body. Dose reduced to 10 mg of the prednisolone with one of these new meds for a couple of days then I stop taking them and stick with just new medication. (the new ones are still steroids but wont affect entire body maybe a little bit of them will be absorbed but not like these ones are now).

She was concerned I was taking the steroids as I was so yeah will be getting round to studying the leaflet for more information. My attitude has changed quite a lot towards taking tablets, one time not so long ago a single paracetamol would get me concerned now I'm like 'hey hand em over lets get busy!'. Had my first iron tablet today and these ones are actually coated properly so don't have that horrible taste in my mouth and they don't fall apart if you don't swallow them immediately (which means I can get a swig of water to help them go down). They are quite big compared to all the other iron tablets so maybe that is why they got coated.

Summary of drugs taken today :

Loperamide = immodium = 1 tablet = delays food from leaving the body, so body has time to get the goodness out of it and assists in preventing it being liquidy. Originally taking 4 a day now down to about 2 a day pending on output.

Prednisolone = steroids = 15 mgs/3 tablets = reduces flare ups and affects whole body and pumps you up a bit with energy, can alter mood significantly if you are not keeping your wits about it. Took 3 tablets due to not having prescription of new meds yet so compromised for today.

Ferrous something or rather = Iron supplement = 1 tablet = I am anaemic a bit with low iron and way better than before, these are just to help me get into the zone of normality and for the body to keep producing red blood cells (I think).

-------

At the docs yesterday :

Everything so far so good, the recent flare up thing is to be expected as still have part of my backside there for in case I want to have a further operation on joining my insides up again.

There are various options available for me in several months time when I am stronger and body has healed from the operation. Mentioned above was the joining up of things. I have a bag on the outside of my stomach and that acts as my stomach/holding area before I dispose of it. This although surreal at first and for a bit of time afterwards is very manageable - so far at least.

The operation to reattach my small colon to the backside has variable results. Yes in theory I will appear normal and the function of going to the toilet will be back as before the IBD. The variable is the risk, because it cannot be predicted before hand the results. Some people have this operation and are as normal as ever ie going to the bog few times a day at most, others find themselves going way more from 7 to 15 times a day as standard. There is also the chance of not being able to hold things in, so could go splat at any time for some people. A lot of variables of the unknown outcome.

With this operation I would be able to go and troll various combat theatres around the world - that would be put on youtube similar in style to le wulf memoirs but just happen to have real bullets flying about ~yes I am a bit odd ~ (if it all went well and the result meant 'normal' and controlled) and failing that do the nettle warrior/mr tough guy type of assault courses/mud runs etc. BUT right now my perspective is that seems a slight chance of 'everything normal' and a lot more chance of 'random results'. This bag has meant I got control back in my life, I am not overly concerned on getting to le bogs and I can go out and about and socialize in a restaurant or wonder around outside in the sunshine and know in theory right now I can do so without an embarrassing incident (least reduced chance of one). Before the operation/hospital I could be running to the bog after a few bites of a sandwich and having to keep getting up during the night or just sitting down watching a show on tv and then having to get to the bog sharpish. Very disruptive and also meant could not visit grandma and granddad (I don't think they would appreciate having to race me to there own toilet lol). So ones mind is at the moment not for the joining up operation.

I can have the remainder removed the downside is it is not reversible the plus side is no flare ups as nothing there to flare up. Who knows if in the future theyre maybe something else comes along that works and needs that part to work again so although I may opt for this my two concerns are : do I really want another operation? and what if there is an alternative treatment in la future?

Think there was a couple more things but cant think of them in detail on options I getting a thorough letter through the post from her explaining everything in detail.

(from my facebook in summary)

My weight at 1600 aprox was 11 stone 5 lbs (without coat but still wearing trainers, trousers and shirt) she was pleased with this.

She was not concerned too much with the current flare up.

I am being encouraged to try more different foods and the introducing of one thing at a time is a good move (my partner was there and they give details and take notes they come with me to all appointments, so don't have to rely on Chinese whispers). "If you can eat chips then you should be fine to try a lot more different foods.". Last night ate takeaway chicken again this time ate all the skin (in past usually took some of it off as introducing slowly) as well as the fries and chicken itself. Had that as a bit of a snack before main dinner of pork chop, mash potatoes and peas (tinned peas liquidized in blender). Looking forward to trying passata (liquidized tomatoes using sieve to get rid of skin and seeds).

Walked back from the hospital in one go, was going to stop off at the library but thought nah lets get it over in one. The route used to take me 40 to 50 mins roughly when fighting fit, no idea how long it took me this time but I did it in one go with use of walking stick and when got back my legs ached a ton - still feeling a lot today in them too. I think back to not being able to roll over by myself at one point in hospital after operation and needing assistance in sitting up to the side of the bed with someone pushing my back and even with help being in agony from wounds and muscle pain. Having achy legs is a good thing I think to myself.

Psychologically and physically I must be improving significantly because I realised the doc is very beautiful with a very nice atmosphere around them. Not in a bimbo sense but I mean in a very real way and although I do not fancy them one can certainly appreciate there looks while also being informed of various ways one can be sliced open again.

Different times indeed, could barely walk last time I went that route through hospital, gloopy blood, eyes bulging look to them, talking difficult, comprehension was not all there, and typical me figured I would get some meds told to bog off and come back when I ran out of them.

 I think at the moment so far so good and as I kept saying in hospital from the very first steroid treatment to after the operation all this time is extra time and at the very least we have had this extra time so far.

My dad had cancer and they sorted it out, it came back between his last two check ups before they give the all clear, so quick it was in taking hold of him once more there was nothing they could do other than give drugs. A surreal timing of things. I take that as he had been given an extra 5 years and that extra 5 years was a good thing of providence. That thought might have contributed to my morale in hospital and in others around me when I mentioned it.

 Another thing that kept me from being miserable about things was in one of the information booklets they give out, the old guy with a big grin on his face didn't do it for me but seeing one with children drawing there favourite superheroes on there stoma bags with big smiles on there faces for the photo proudly showing there work certainly made sure I was not going to be grumpy about having the bag on me; if they can be happy about there state then a grown man like me is not going to let the side down. - there were other things that did make me a bit moody but it was not the stoma / IBD stuff, may go into that but for now its time for Battle Pirates.