I had enrolled in college prior to all of this colitis business became clear, so as the fall approached it was time to get down to brass tacks. I wasn’t going to let colitis stop me, despite having exasperating urges to go the bathroom. The salofalk was working pretty well, but it was no miracle cure. I had to watch my diet and I kept a food diary to determine that dairy wasn’t doing me any favours. With this newfound knowledge, I ventured to college each day.
The commute was hell and each morning became a ceremony of hammering on my steering wheel in fits of frenzy with hopes of magically removing the cars in my way so that I could find a bathroom. The freeway was jam-packed and immobile most mornings, but I was determined to prove to my family and my friends that I wasn’t going to let this thing take me down. It wasn’t going to change how I lived.
Everyone I have spoken to with UC has a different story of how the condition impacts them. I spoke to one guy who loved to jog every morning, but his runs became rituals of diving into nearby bushes to defecate. The indignity, that crippling fiend, was too much for him and he began to gradually file back the regularity of his runs. UC began to dictate when he could run, even with medication.
The easy refuge of being able to “hold it” was long gone.
Each time I witnessed a parent chastising a child in the shopping mall for not using the bathroom before she left the house, I’d squirm. Each time I’d see a cleaning crew place a sign on a bathroom door, I’d tighten up. Each time I found myself facing a long line-up to use the bathroom, I’d freak. Before I knew it, ulcerative colitis began to dictate to me too.
My own security was eroded over the course of time. It took two embarrassing instances of not making it to the bathroom in time, a mad-panicked endeavour to get at a staff washroom during intermission at a hockey game, and a new job that I thought I could handle in order to prove that UC didn't have its talons dug in.
Years went by and I made do with the changes, adapting my entire way of life, changing my diet where I could, and attempting to understand ulcerative colitis further. I saw my friends less because I’d wind up being too sick to make the drive out to visit and there’s only so many times you can force your pals to come your way. College was a chore and I got nothing out of it, wasting away in three subsequent programs. Dr. Cooper set me up on a round of different medication.
Article comments
1 - Jeannie Danna
Jordan,
How honest your writing is and how straightforward! It took a ton of courage for you to write this essay about how our bodies betray us. I am blessed to have met you in my cyber-life as you are "really" helping me to tell my story to the world.
2 - Jordan Richardson
Thank you very much for reading!
3 - Christopher Rose
This was indeed a good article, both interesting and funny.
Changing the subject, what I want to know is what happened inbetween the taking of the photos above and on Jordan's "Aboot Me" page on his own site. Is there more to this Ulcerative Colitis than we've been told? ;-)
4 - roger nowosielski
So Jeannie,
You still haven't answered the question I posed to you days ago. I have a weird feeling that by nature, you tend to be elusive and somewhat on the coy side - I understand that. The question still stands, though - what made you write like a dream?
5 - Jordan Richardson
Chris, the operation has gone well and I spend a lot of time gazing at myself in the mirror.
:P
6 - Jeannie Danna
ROGER, WHAT THE F R U saying here? [You still haven't answered the question I posed to you days ago. I have a weird feeling that by nature, you tend to be elusive and somewhat on the coy side - I understand that. The question still stands, though - what made you write like a dream?]
7 - Jordan Richardson
He's using my article to ask you why/how you write so well, I think.
8 - Jeannie Danna
Jordan,
Where does everyone go? and how do they stick together like this? Do they e-mail each other?
9 - Jordan Richardson
Some of us do, yeah. It all depends. As for me, I just went outside for a second to enjoy the day and quickly remembered my seasonal allergies. Brilliant!
10 - Cindy
I go into sleep mode until I get an e-mail from Jordan telling me I should come back and blab some more. :-)
11 - Jordan Richardson
Any minute now...
:P
12 - Jeannie Danna
Are you all here? This is starting to get to me! I think I better take a break..and Cindy? I was over tweeting today and saw your @ replies I sent you a MSG it really is about a cat!