Year anniversary of the total proctocolectomy

Jen,
I was sick for so many years that my main emotion has been to be thankful to be alive and breathing.
Cece

I went out for dinner for my 1st proctocolectomy anniversary. I celebrated the hell out of that weekend, let me tell you. It'll be three years this coming January and I have to say that while I am sorry that my crohns got so bad the surgery became necessary, I will never be sorry that I got the surgery. It's made my life easier in a lot of ways. I'm back volunteering as a Girl Guide leader and let me tell you, an ostomy bag is a lot easier to empty and deal with on camp than running to the toilet would be!

This might sound bad...but my 1st anniversary of my sub-total came and went without any fanfare because I was out living life.  I realized it a few days later and wrote a bit in my blog about all the things that I have done in the last year since surgery #1 that I couldn't have done the year before and how thankful that I am that I had the surgeries.  I think that I am more likely to celebrate the anniversary of surgery #3 because that was when the whole surgical experience was over and I was able to truly get back to living without having to plan for the next surgery.  I know that I will always remember the dates of my 3 surgeries as they are what allow me to be out living the life that I am today.