About Me

Hi, I’m Rob and I’ve been living/coping/struggling with IBD for 16/17 years. Like most people who are afflicted with the disease, I have tried numerous types of medication, experienced periods of both remission and flare ups and ticked off many of the bad side effects of the disease.

I experienced a big flareup in 2014 and was given the option of surgery or Humira injections and I opted for the latter which proved to be somewhat of a miracle cure. I experienced another bad – perhaps worse – flareup in 2018 and after Humira didn’t work, I decided that I had had enough and it was time to elect for surgery to help improve my standard of life.

Aim of the Blog

I decided to start this website to chronicle my journey having a (partial) Proctocolectomy with Colostomy. The main reason for the site is to provide those considering having the surgery information on how the procedure went and how I recover. And as a runner I will be documenting how I deal with getting back into running with a colostomy bag.

My first Ultra in August 2016. Crohn’s was currently under control with Humira.

I’m sure there are plenty of others out there that have written similar blogs but there’s no harm in having more information available.

Update: November 2019

The aim of the blog was, and still remains, to chronicle my journey with a new bum. Over the 10 months that I’ve had the new bum it’s been a bumpy ride and things haven’t quite gone to plan. Early after the surgery things appeared to be heading in the right direction and I started to build up my fitness again at first by swimming then by getting back into running. I managed a period of running which allowed me to build back up to half marathon distance and whilst I wasn’t quick, my 5k was gradually improving.

Then things started to go wrong and wounds associated with the Ken Butt weren’t healing. I stopped running in case that was contributing and eventually I required more surgery to reopen the wounds to allow them to heal (assisted by a VAC dressing). As of November 2019 I’m still having daily dressings and not running but it does appear that I should be able to start again in early 2020.

Update: January 2020

It’s been over a year since My New Bum was fitted and I’m still not back to normal. The Ken Butt wound is still being dress daily but the end is in sight. Hopefully all will be healed in a few week’s time.

To help with issues I’ve been experiencing with the colostomy bag I have started irrigating and I’m really pleased with how it’s going. It’s not as time-consuming as I imagined and I’m no longer worrying about the bag which was the original aim back in 2019. I’m still learning but overall everything has gone well.

I’m hoping that my next update will be about me starting running again!