World IBD Day

It's so exciting to have a day for us finally. I never realized there wasn't one. My pouch didn't quite behave today and of course it had to be the day that all my senior management was in my office and we had meetings back to back. Needless to say I made it through the day with no damage, but not the kind of days I like. Well the best part of the day, aside from it being IBD day & wearing blue (my favorite color)...one of the offices participating in my fundraising efforts announced they raised $500 by selling tamales.

I've got an office challenge going on right now and it's basically called a "dime" drive. Filling a 16oz bottle full of dimes = $100. So the challenge is to collect as many bottles of dimes as they can and the winning office gets to keep a bottle to spend. Now most of our offices are split up in to teams so it's really by the team. Now who wouldn't like $100? So out of the blue I get this email announcing this and I was so overwhelmed I almost started to cry. I was hoping that each office would collect at least 1 bottle...maybe 2 at the most, but for 2 teams (who joined forces) raised that much money I was at a loss for words and we still have another few weeks to go. That inspired my office to do something similar and one of my Loan Officers said he would buy the tamales and let us keep the profit on it. How cool is that? And to top it all off, the company I work for matches the donations. So I am going to definitely exceed my goal which is fantastic news!!!!!

I'm one lucky girl to have a great support team around me. I took this day to not only make everyone aware, but to thank my office for all their support while I've gone through all of my trials and tribulations these last few years. Soon I will be stepping down, but I know the support will always be there. Thanks Woodland Hills Team B02 & B06 for your incredible fundraising efforts :)

great day ended with a leak

So my day started out fantastic...got up, got dressed and out the door I went on my usual Saturday morning walk. Only today was absolutely gorgeous out. People were down at the already at 8:30am beach playing volleyball, walking, riding bikes, roller blading, jogging...even setting up camp for a day at the beach. I love mornings like that! and it was even warm...now I really love that! Brodee was off to a Jazz band competition with school and Ian was hanging out with his friends. So I went into the office for a bit, got some things done and the hubby text to see if I wanted to go on a hike. We met up around 2pm and off we went to PV. I've lived all over that hill and had never been to this area. We went on a beautiful hike down this trail and settled up on a knoll with trees. There was a little sitting area overlooking the coast and we sat there for a few hours while he serenaded me with his mini Martin guitar. I love when he does that and we sat and soaked up the sun, got to pet a few dogs as they came around with their owners and watched a few lizards scamper through the brush.

Heading back up the hill to the car we watched a man unicycle the same hill...I seriously don't know how the heck he did that. Near the top my stoma started to twitch and all of the sudden I felt air and more. I was hoping the more part was a figment of my imagination, but it wasn't. It poured out and the pad was covered. So we walked a little faster and a more came out. Got to the car and cleaned it off...still stuff coming out. I thought it was under control and here came more air bubbles and that not so good feeling. My husband was worried and I was too, but I was trying to be calm and rationalize why this could be happening. Of course apologizing for the smell and he said "don't worry hon, it's like a wet fart" I enjoyed the laugh and we headed to the nearest Starbucks so I could get my catheter in. I had no trouble getting it in. My thought is that my valve didn't shut all the way after my last intubation or something got caught in the valve causing it to stay open slightly which would make the most sense to me seeing that I haven't had another incident since and my pouch was pretty full when I emptied it. I typically take it out slowly and I was in a hurry to leave and took it out quicker than normal. Maybe a darn piece of lettuce got stuck...who knows, but I'm hoping it will never happen again! I'm just glad i was with my husband when it happened.

Helping Others

I walked 5 miles today with Team Challenge and even jogged a little. I was surprised that I felt really good and I didn't feel my pouch jiggle around like I thought it would. So I plan on trying it again next week for a little longer and see how I do. After our team breakfast I went to Huntington Hospital to visit to step 1 jpouch patients. Dr. Kaufman performed thier surgeries on Wednesday & both of them were doing really well. I got to see both of their ileostomies and I even help Claudia change hers. It's really weird doing it for someone else, but she was a trooper and I really enjoyed helping her out and making her feel a little more comfortable about it. Michael was a hoot and he had the perfect looking stoma. I can't tell you how much I enjoy helping other patients, whether it's with an ostomy, cancer, jpouch or koch pouch. I feel very fortunate with all my surgeries and I am grateful to be given the opportunity to help others. Life is good!