People talking you OUT of surgery?

Ugh! Here I am, minutes away from making the call to my surgeon's nurse to get the pre-surgery consult set-up and I have people, in real life and online TALKING ME OUT OF THIS!!! As if this wasn't a hard enough decision on it's own! What gives?

Many people telling me to look back into Tsyabri and not be scared of it because of PML. Well, the thing is..it's NOT JUST PML I'm scared of..it's the other risks.. lymphoma, lupus, my God the list could go on for DAYS! I want to be nearly drug-free, pain free, and for God's sake I JUST WANT MY LIFE BACK!

Why must people be so insistant that you are making a mistake?

Kaycie--they aren't living your life! Your husband supports you, right? That's all you need...I didn't even tell people I was thinking about it, I just had surgery...I wouldn't suggest not telling your parents, tho, my mom wasn't happy I waited to tell her!! BUT she did understand...everyone reacts differently to medical procedures, but as long as YOU are okay with whatever happens, do it. I wish you the best!!!!

Thanks everyone!

My husband AND my parents and most of my family are fully supportive about it. They've seen my suffering firsthand and they just want me to be better. My mom & husband are behind my decision 100%. They KNOW I'm scared half to death..they understand every single reason behind it... they want nothing more then for me to be healthy and able to live.

And, if I get one more freakin email or message about how I should check into Tsyabri a bit more.. I think I'm going to scream!

We had many people ask us how we could allow our 17-year old daughter to go through such a surgery! So permanent, so life changing! So drastic! My husband, daughter, and I discussed the surgery over and over again. After her 3rd huge flare, she wanted it. Even with her nerves, she never changed her mind. In her case, she was in remission when she had the surgery. Feeling healthy. So even more people thought it was wrong. In fact, after surgery, when we asked the surgeon what her colon looked like, he said it was bad but not horrible (the way most on this forum seem to have been). But still, we know it was the right decision. She's a happy, healthy girl living her senior year of high school and looking forward to the future. No meds, no issues, no disease.

Our family didn't give us too much grief. Mostly friends. Ours not hers. Of course, these are the same friends who told us that she should just change her diet, try this medicine, go to this doctor, etc. They also always seemed to know someone (generally a family member) who had UC and was "cured". No amount of explaining about this disease was going to help.

As long as you have a great support system, you will be fine. Focus on that and how much better you will be to be the mom you want to be.

At lot of the peopel who are trying to talk you out of it are worried abotu such a big surgery and the dangers. My grandma FREAKED out! Not because she was upset abotu the type of surgery just because surgery is dangerous and she had just had a major surgery on her stomach (colon cancer removed) and knew how painful and dangerous it was. She wanted me to try everything in the world to keep from having to go through what she did. Eventually she realizzed that was my only solution and she said, I would do it for you if i could.
But there are plenty of people who dont know what its like to be SOOO sick ALL the time and they think oh a few drugs will fix it. I mean it would have been awesome to find out you can two asprin and its gone, but that's not the way it workds. And i did have some people say, what if they find a cure? And in my head i thought "great, im gonna wake up and see brian williams on tv saying, a cure for everything has just been found!"

But that's so unlikely, and this surgery is A CURE and you will be BETTER just tell them that.

My parents were pretty freaked about the surgery too, dad especially. Mom took it a bit better but not by much. Good thing I'm over 18 or else I'd still be suffering..

Matt

My husband opposed me having surgery....said I just needed to stick it out.  Finally, I just got tired of UC and I just told him I was doing it.  At that point, he supported me 100% but since my surgery has made a point several times to tell me that it was the best choice I could have made.  He is SO glad that I nolonger live on the up and down UC roller coaster.  I  think that the thought of anyone loosing their colon "by choice" just sounds "crazy" but it is what it is.  Your colon is sick and, in turn, makes you sick.  I say follow your gut instinct.  If you are ready then you are ready.  It is a tough decision but I bet all of your friends and family will support you 100% and will probably realize how good of choice it turned out to be afterall.  Noone lives through UC like you do....it is hard!!