Hi!

Hi everyone!

It's been a while, so I thought I would pop in and see how everyone is doing and give a little update.  It has been 7 weeks since Paige had her colon removed. It took a few weeks to get comfortable with the bag and find the right product, but things are much better now.  I do not know how other people 'hide' their bags - Paige can't wear any of her "regular" clothes - she has been living in baggy Tshirts and yoga pants   Seems like the darn thing is always hanging out of her shirt, too!

Aside from the surgery recovery, she has been struggling.  We are still weaning her off of the hydrocortisone and it has been really hard. We saw an endocrinologist today and talked about keeping her at the same dose for longer  than we originally planned.  The Dr. thinks she might be hypothyroid, so she ran a bunch of blood tests.  She has NO energy, hasn't lost any of the prednisone weight, dark circles under her eyes....she just does not look like her pretty little self    We should get the test results back early next week.  Friday 11/25 will mark one year since the original flare began, so it has been a solid year since she has had ANY relief...she has either been flaring or on steroids   I can't wait until we are past the takedown and get her feeling good again, physically and emotionally.

Of course things are much better than they were...I don't mean to be a downer...she is doing well from the surgery...it's just all the other stuff that is a struggle...but she's getting there  

I am a year post takedown from j pouch surgery and I know how hard it is to re-coop from this surgery. It's really tough. I can't imagine being a teenager and having to go thru this. She is a trooper that's for sure. I can tell you though that soon it will all be a distant memory and she will be feeling like her old self again. Coming off the steriods is an added downer for her. I hope she feels better real soon.

Hi MustLoveDogs! Awesome to hear Paige is doing much better, and not having to deal with consistent flaring and most of the meds.

I can only imagine your torment seeing her going through such a surgery, but it seems your support along with her strength and determination has gotten her to where she is at this point.

I'm sure once she's levelled and off the pred, she'll thrive. I agree with bookworm21 to have her carefully watched regarding her afrenal production so that she doesn't have any other issues (especially during this time in her life/age with so many hormonal things happening normally.

When does she have the take-down done?

Thanks for letting us know how Paige is doing. Please continue to keep us updated. Tell her how proud we are of her to have such strength going through such a difficult change.

Heather