Monday, July 16, 2012

Post Op: Day 4

7,125 page views??? WOW! It's hard to believe that Alexis' story has reached so many people. I can only hope that it reaches someone that needs questions answered or encouragement regarding ANYTHING related to Ulcerative Colitis (I believe I am a PRO at that topic) or colectomy. Like I said, we are opting for the 3 stage j-pouch, and just completed stage one on 7/12/12. You can email me at tara.n.blackburn@gmail.com ( or you can find me on fb: https://www.facebook.com/tara.blackburn)

My husband and I will be working on a more "professional" blog here in the NEAR future, but I am having a HORRIBLE time coming up with a sleek, catchy name. I would like it to pertain to (obviously) my role as a parent to someone with IBD who had a colectomy. If you can think of anything catchy PLEASE let me know!!

Alexis is doing great! After a week of no eating, she was given the okay to chow down on some actual food today! She ate so much, and her body handled it exactly as it should. It was nice, because her "output" finally became something other than pure liquid.. which meant WAY less emptying!

Kyle and I finally had the oppurtunity to meet with our stoma nurse today. She gave us an entire months worth of supplies, made our first order with the home health company and taught us the ins and outs of changing and emptying out Alexis' ileostomy bag. Alexis was scared and screaming because she thought it was going to hurt, which made the entire process exhausting, but we pulled through and got it done. I managed to accidently touch the stoma several times while switching out the wafers and that was weird (but, who am I kidding-- the entire process is exactly that) but it still wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be.

We are on track to leave the hospital tomorrow morning, and neither Alexis and I can hardly wait! We have packed up everything-- (including the almost 200 cards she received while in the hospital!!)

Tomorrow can't come soon enough!!

P.S-- This is AWESOME! CHECK IT OUT!!

It's amazing how much support Alexis has got from the REDDIT community-- she is absolutely loving it, and we appreciate it ! It has made this entire experience so much easier. It's mind blowing how much support you can get from absolute strangers! THANK YOU!!!!!

2 comments:

  1. My 9 year old has been fighting Chron's disease for over 2 years. He just got out of the hospital after having an illeostomy. These diseases take so much from our children and us. We understand and wish you well.

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  2. My 5 year old son has been battling Crohn's Disease since age 3 and has been hospitalized many times this year. He was on Remicade infusions this spring, but they did not work. Hoping you are finding some moments to just breathe. We know how stressful these diseases can be on a patient and their family. We also found a lot of support through the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America. Our stories sound very similar. We also have a 2 year old daughter. Hang in there!

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