Recently taken-down friends

songlady said...
I am doing well! Even with the bumps in the road, I would not at all say (to respond to Woogy) that I am not doing well with my pouch. I sure had some issues with the ostomy, with a horribly painful hernia and the pyroderma gangrenosum, and this is better than that!

I think, nssg, that I have been particularly grumpy about the frequency because my UC had not a bad flare in years. So unlike those whose UC is out of control prior to surgery, I was feeling well - and this has been sort of a surprise. I hadn't had a situation of 8+ bathroom trips per day for.... more than 30 years?

The Docs told me recovery would take 6 months for the acute recovery and 1 year for something like 98% recovery, and I think I am on track. (I am almost 6 months post-reversal.) Being an incurable optimist (lol) I had assumed I'd beat everyone's expectations and do better than their predictions. But, realistically, given my age and having gone through 6 months of chemo, which obviously affected all my cells, I think I'm doing fine.

I've been back at work since about 3 weeks post-reversal. At first I was p/t, but now I'm really back to it, which includes not only days but several evenings a week. My BMs tend to cluster in the evenings, so sometimes that's difficult.

But, your question, Keith: I have been great since the last round of Cipro. I started with just that (per Dr) but then added Flagyl for the last few days. Have been off them So far so good. Stupid thing, I ate acorn squash a few days ago, as I finished my meds, and squash has always caused me issues (but I LOVE squash!) ... so I had some increased urgency/frequency until that got through me.

My 6 month post-chemo CT scan is this week. Then the following week I do extensive bloods and see the oncologist. I hope the pouchitis issue is calm for a while! And that all the oncology stuff is clear.

notsosicklygirl said...
I can't take antibiotics for any period of time. I get yeast so easily from antibiotics. I would have to try to find something else. Three years is pretty impressive though. I guess people who have other situations, like Lyme, take antibiotics for longer periods. They might have some tricks for avoiding thrush - the board here on HW is quite active too if you want to ask over there.

ks1905 said...
I was really never able to get off of them, I was able to go off for 4-7 days at a time. I would take Fluconozole with the antibiotics as a preventative to Thrush.

The antibiotic holidays help with avoiding Thrush.

I’d go really hard on the antibiotics for a month or so and if that didn’t work then I’d try the transplant.

I’m prone to Thrush myself, I would get it really bad too. If the transplant doesnt work then I’d consider a biological since Thrush will be an ongoing battle if you continue on antibiotics.