NEW SITE

To visit our new blog, please click HERE.

I will be transferring some of the posts here to the new site.

www.oniostomy.blogspot.com

Psalm 62:5-8

“My soul, wait in silence for God only,
For my hope is from Him.
He only is my rock and my salvation;
My stronghold;
I shall not be shaken.
On God my salvation and my glory rest;
The rock of my strength,
My refuge, is in God.
Trust in Him at all times, O people;
Pour out your heart before Him;
God is a refuge for us."

Nutroplex Kid!!

Yesterday my daughter graduated from the preparatory level in her school.

What does that have to do with my life and my sickness?

This is the first time in 2 years, that I was able to go to my daughter's school program. I was either in too much pain or too weak to attend any of my daughter's activities before.

I thank God that I'm slowly getting stronger, and my post operation pains are slowly subsiding.

My daughter received a medal for being outstanding in academics, which made daddy soooo proud!

She also received a medal from Nutroplex kids multivitamins for her achievement in academics.

She's off to the big school next school year.

The Nutroplex Champion with mom, dad
and baby sis.

Before and After

That's me on the right, with my wife and daughter...2003

Four years later.. a few months before my operation
having a hard time standing up, but still smiling by God's grace.

I still need to gain 20 - 30 lbs, before my colostomy can be reversed. I need to bulk up and eat more proteins.

Hmmmm.. maybe a talent agent can book me to appear in a before and after weight management commercial.

Another Intro

First a backgrounder...

I was first diagnosed in 2006 with Ulcerative Colitis. Ulcerative colitis is a form of inflammatory bowel disease. It is a disease of the large intestines or colon that includes characteristic ulcers or open sores.

I have had symptoms way before 2006 like bloody diarrhea, abdominal pain, chronic fatigue, fistulas and anemia...but it was always misdiagnosed as urinary tract infection, stomach ulcers or just a reaction to some medicines.

It was only at the start of 2006 that the abdominal pain was too much to bear, and I finally consulted a specialist. They asked for a complete endoscopy, or looking inside my stomach and large intestines with instruments, to find out what was causing the pain. They found out that part of my large intestines had ulcers and was then diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis. I was still able to go to work at that time, but often times was to weak to get out of bed and had an unbearable abdominal pain in the bottom left side of my stomach.

I weighed over 240 lbs. when I was first diagnosed but lost 120lbs in less than a year.
I had all the symptoms of Ulcerative colitis, eye inflammation (I don't know how the eye is connected to the colon), joint pains (again I don't know how), chronic fatigue, weight loss (because I was not able to process all the nutrients from the food I was eating), and the worst part was the abdominal pain which got worse after eating, which was why I was forced and eventually got used to eating just 2 spoons of food per meal. My thought then was the pain of hunger was easier to bear than the abdominal pain I felt after eating.

There were days even months, when I couldn't do anything but lie down in bed.
I eventually had to quit my job, because I was having a hard time just sitting down, let alone work for 8 hours a day.

...Then the event I was dreading happened...it was new year's day 2008, I woke up with extreme pain in my abdomen and nausea, my first thought was - - Toxic megacolon!! From the research I was doing about my sickness, I knew all the complications that can happen. Toxic megacolon is a life-threatening complication characterized by a very dilated colon, accompanied by bloating, and sometimes fever, abdominal pain, or shock.

I had myself rushed to the hospital and doctors ran tests and endoscopies on me again, some doctors were so shocked at how my stomach was so bloated, doctors from the ultrasound department commented that all they could see in the monitor was my colon. Surgeons eventually had to cut about 2 feet off my colon, and had to perform a colostomy, wherein, I now have an opening in my abdomen where my colon is now connected.

The surgeon who performed the operation said that my large intestines was almost entirely blocked with all the ulcers that formed in it, and was astonished on how I went through all the pain during those times. Pathology reports also said that I have Crohn's disease, another form of IBD.

Now I am an ostomate, or a person who has had ostomy or in my case colostomy surgery. I now need to eat and eat, in order to bulk up and build proteins in my body, so the colostomy can be reversed and I can live a normal life again.

NOW...This is where my life begins....

INTRO

Crohn's disease affects between 400,000 and 600,000 people in North America and was unheard of in South East Asia just a few years back.

This blog is about living and coping with Crohn's disease in a country in which more often than not, has never heard the disease.

This is about living in the Philippines, with limited choices on medicines, products, and doctors who specialize in inflammatory bowel diseases(IBD) like Ulcerative Colitis and Crohn's disease.

This is about EATING and FOOD, after not being able to eat more than 2 spoons of food per meal for almost two years.

This is about going out to places after being bed ridden for almost two years.

This is about my family, which never fail to always be at my side.

This is about my life. . .

Most importantly, this is about how the LORD has constantly blessed me and my family with constant grace and provisions.