Dropping in to say 'hi!'

*waves* hi!!!

Not too much happening my part of the world. Cant remember when i was last on so will try to recap from march! End of march got yanked back in to the hospital for a week cos my feacal calproctein levels were 3331. I was taken off humira (yay!) and i was put back in inflixmab. Which was rather scary due to my previous serious reaction.

We premedicate with 10mg IV piriton before each infusion and it seemed to go well. Until the 3rd infusion, when i started to have another mild reaction. It didnt get worse and actually began to ease up before i got more drugs!

Now i have to have the hydrocortisone 30 minutes before we can begin the infusion. Fingers crossed, this has worked although my infusions are still over 2 hours. Not sure if we will ever reduce the time but i'm ok with it. Its nice to have some time to myself or rather to nap! I also have my infusions every 6 weeks and take 150mg of azathioprine to help.

Symptom wise, stool is predominantly liquid. Pain is rare but when i have pain, oh boy do i have pain! Dont have too much nausea either. CRP is coming down slowly. I still have tenderness in certain areas and accidents are still far too common but quality of life is definately there!

I got back in the saddle at the start of june. Started with 30 minute lessons, and i explained my health situation to them before i got on. The yard has been fantastic. They've really thought about how best to build me and my poor stomach muscle back up. Now i'm riding for an hour and a half (with rests) and i did my first cross country lesson! Its wonderfull to be back and i'm finally back home.

At the end of august, i did something totally mad! I applied to go to the EFFCA cath your dream summer camp for young people with IBD. I got in and spent 3 days in amsterdam! It was fantastic! So worth doing and i'm definately going to go back next year!

Oh and whilst i was in amsterdam, we moved house! new house is lovely and big! Massive garden which we have plans to turn half into a veg plot. We even have a greenhouse!

wew sorry for the essay! and big hugs to everyone, hope your all doing well xx

Choc so nice to hear from you again. Glad to hear you are enjoying the new home and are feeling somewhat better. I think it takes a full year to fully recover from surgery, but sounds like things are going well for you now. Don't be such a stranger. Hugs!

Thanks for all the welcomes guys.

NCOT - its good to hear your on infliximab. It would seem your clinically doing better but not physically, if you see what i mean?

Nanners - I am doing better, i mean my blood work isnt normal but i'm not convinced we can ever get there without me being in hospital being shot full of IV hydrocortisone!

Roni - Sometimes at the start my muscles would hurt but it was only after i really pushed them with lots of sitting trot. The ultimate stomach muscle worker! Each time it would start to hurt i stopped, had a small rest then went onto something else. It took time and my muscles still arent there completely but i am 100% better than i was. I was even riding 3 loop serpentines in sitting trot two weeks ago, with alittle difficulty, but i did it! I adore riding, and i find that once i'm in the saddle i forget about everything else. No pain, no toilet urges, nothing.