Blessings and Thanksgiving

First, I apologize for not updating everyone on the blog. You can take my lack of posting to mean that I have been doing really well. Things have finally gotten back to "normal" and my intestines are doing very well. Interestingly enough, one of the things that I changed that really helped was to stop taking my stool softener. I was thinking that I was going to be taking them for the remainder of my life, but I do alot better without them. They were causing me to go more frequent and making it difficult to leave the house. With a little experimenting with various dietary needs, medications, and behavior changes (little to no snacking) I have gotten down to about three bathroom visits a day, and they are fairly predictable. I am still nervous about upcoming scans and what-not, but I guess I will have to live with that. The feeling in my hands and feet has returned completely so I believe I may dodge permanent neuropathy. The only complaint I have (and believe me I do not mean to complain about the way things are for me) would be that I get what is termed by other j-pouch patients as "butt burn." Everyone has had it before, but I get it pretty regularly. Nothing that a good hot bath doesn't fix.

Anyway, I feel healed from the surgery with relatively little pain in my incision areas. I still get some stiffness in my abdomen and stomach, but that might have to do with me being more active these days. I played tennis yesterday and hope to get back to regular exercise again.

The big thing these days is that Kimberly and I are getting ready for our vacation next week. We leave on the 29th for North Carolina and we are so excited. This has been a difficult year for us both and we look forward to getting away for a little R&R.

I love everyone and hope to talk to you all soon!

Josh

P.S. For those keeping up with my school progress, I have finally completed my annotated bibliography. Now I have to submit it to my committee, probably make some edits, and then hopefully defend it in early fall.