Hi there! Good to hear from you again...and good to hear that you have been out on a date, even if it wasn't really your cup of tea, but atleast it has set the ball rolling again. I agree, once you stop flaring you will most definitely go out more as you will have more energy also to do so.
I didn't have UC for that long - I only had active UC from around Aug 2006 until my JPOUCH stage one operation in Oct 2008, where I gave a huge sigh of relief, because even though I had most of my colon gone and only a little teensy weensy bit left, that little teensy weensy bit gave me A LOT of problems and we eventually opted for the JPOUCH. So I know the feeling of stomach cramps and flaring up and being scared of going to the loo, because you don't know what's going to happen and with me, I had an ostomy bag, so rightfully so, there were only supposed to be mucus coming out at the bag on occassion, but yeah, I always had a surprise waiting for me and sometimes ended up in hospital.
Life is so much better if you are not flaring, so I know that you will take the world by storm once you have stopped, because there is so much to live for...and like with us, we tend to not take life for granted so much anymore, because we got kind of used to not getting promised a pain-free life. That's why I used to do more than enough for the day on the days that I felt sick, kind of to make up for the days when I had to fold over in pain.
Hey, I also had the same thought as you, that it would be wonderful to meet a guy with UC or a JPouch...or atleast someone who has a close relative that has it, so that he atleast would understand.....but it would be even better if you could have someone with none of the above and that would still love and accept you for who you are, but until then I'm living my life as best as I can, making most of each day....just came from dance class, which I thouroughly enjoyed and looking forward to doing so much more with my life
Take care and I pray you get better very soon!