First learning about UC was enlightening, yet difficult to deal with. My Father, may he rest in peace, had UC. He suffered a massive heart attack in 1988. About two weeks later when they got him stable enough for surgery, he had a quadruple by-pass.
What does this have to do with UC? Well, uc when one has heart surgery they have to take medications afterwards. His doctors told him that there may be side effects, but he would die without the surgery.
One day after the surgery, my Father suffered a stroke, and needless to say more meds were administered. Not long after that he started having diareah.
Well this diarrhea was so persistent, and bothersome, that more meds were tried. Nothing helped with that except doses of steroids.
So now, we have a moody individual to deal with. Why am I telling you all this? It seems that people don’t realize how much damage UC can do to a person.
To make matters worse, my Fathers stroke was on the left side where his artificial leg was. He now needed theraphy to learn to walk again.
When it came time for the theraphy, my Father had lost almost 75 lbs. This meant he couldn’t start theraphy until a new leg was made for him.
Then comes the psychological part of the whole ordeal of colitis. My Father insisted that he didn’t need theraphy, because he never had any in 1941 when he lost his leg. Thats when it kind of got funny too! Keeping his weight on was a struggle, as he did live by himself, and swore he was eating. Later , I found out that he was skipping meals simply because eating gave him the runs, as he was adjusting to all the meds.
So the next time you hear that someone has UC or a bowel problem, don’t dwell on it, but do understand that it is real.