The History of Kat

In January 1992 at age 13 I was diagnosed with severe ulcerative colitis involving my entire large intestine. I ended up spent two full months in the hospital. I was so sick because I had been having rectal bleeding for months before I finally told my parents and doctor.
Why didn't I say anything? I can only say that I was terrified.
When I finally broke my silence my parents took me to the doctor who ordered bloodwork and an colonoscopy. My hemglobin was 4 and I was admitted to the hospital within a couple hours of the colonoscopy because of the severity of the disease in my intestine.
I spent about 2 weeks in Flagler Hospital in St. Augustine before my family doctor felt it was in my best interest to be admitted to Baptist Medical Center in Jacksonville where I could have access to pediatric gastroenterologists and surgeons. During the course of my hospital stays I was on an a clear liquid diet for over 2 weeks, I was on several types of medications including steroids and enemas. I began to have IVs infiltrate so often (almost every day) that once I was moved to Jacksonville I was immediately given a central line (an IV placed into the main vein in the chest). I had multiple colonoscopies, barium enemas, abdominal x-rays, CAT scans and ultrasounds. I also had mulple blood transfusions because my blood count was so low. We finally decided that surgery was my best option for a healthy and normal life.

The surgery I had was to remove my colon (yes, the whole thing) and have a reservoir formed out of a portion of my small intestine called a j-pouch. The techincal jargon is complete colectomy and ileal-anal anastamosis. The surgery was done in two stages. Stage one was done in March 1992 and consisted of removal of the colon and creation of the j-pouch. I was also given a temporary loop ileostomy to let the pouch heal before it took over its new function. A loop ileostomy is where a portion of the ileum (lower section of the small intestine) is brought through the abdominal wall and stiched to the surface. This small portion of intestine poking through the belly is called a stoma and waste exits the stoma (bypassing the normal route) and is collected in a special bag. Stage one surgery lasted just over 9 hours and I woke up in the pediatric ICU.
After recovering from surgery I was discharged from the hospital and was finally healthy enough to return to school.
Stage 2 was done 3 months later in June 1992 and consisted of reconnecting my intestine and j-pouch and closure of the temporary ileostomy. I only had to spend a week or so in the hospital and then was released.

My life was pretty normal after all this! I did take away a deep and abiding hatred of jell-o and I still don't do so well when it comes to having IV started
Life with j-pouch means having to go to the bathroom 6-8 times a day but I was able to do everything that I wanted and had no restrictions whatsoever. I went to highschool then college and even spent a semester in Northern Ireland. I met and married Shon :) and overall have had a very happy and healthy exsistence sans-colon.