My Battle with the Bathroom

14 years ago I was diagnosed with a little thing called Irritable Bowel Syndrome. A year later I was upgraded to Colitis. A year after that I was upgraded again, this time sever Ulcerative Colitis. And it didn’t stop there. I was hospitalized for a few days which led to me being off of work for up to two years.

My battle with the bathroom began way before 14 years ago though, it started as a child. I never liked going to the bathroom, whether it was No. 1, No. 2, or No. 3 (oh, I’m sorry, I think I went too far, even though I was told No. 3 is a combination of 1 and 2, so would No. 4 include burring your head in the toilet). Back to the story, for whatever reason I had a phobia of being in the bathroom by myself for extended periods of time, therefore I never liked No. 2. I also never liked public bathrooms, so I didn’t like doing No. 1 in public, I could hold it up to 12 hours (not like that should really be an accomplishment).

Later when in pre-teens and teens, I didn’t like the idea of No. 2. I had boy cousins that were just being boys and made fun of passing gas, poop and anything else I felt was disgusting. So I would only No. 2 when I went to the bathroom to take a shower, you know the time you’re allowed to be in the bathroom for an extended period of time.
Didn’t you know pretty girls don’t No. 2?

I believed the theory that girls are made up of sugar and spice and everything nice. Another issue I realized I had, have, is the issue of the smell. I am not a fan. But I always remember my mother yelling on the other side of the door “it’s not gold, so flush, flush as many times as necessary, don’t let it build up!”

Those two years off of work allowed me to make contact with the bathroom way more than I ever wanted to in my entire life. At one point I No. 2ed at least once an hour and that was from only eating one spoonful of peanut butter or spinach an hour. Sever Ulcerative Colitis turned into facing the removal of my colon and being replaced with a bag to wear on the side of my abdomen for the rest of my life. Clutch the pearls, not only do pretty girls not No. 2, they definitely don’t wear bags, the carry them!!!! (Disclaimer…I apologize to any pretty girl that does, I just didn’t want to.)

I opted out of the bag, even though my boyfriend at the time suggested a Coach bag as the cover for the poop bag. Thankfully I did because I was diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease after my sever weight loss to 96 pounds after the discovery of ulcers in my esophagus. Can it get any worse, I thought, at this point it was clear comedy.

Facing sh*t...I stop now, but I share this story to expose you to the life of a sufferer of Crohn’s/Colitis. I see more commercials and I learn of more people that are being affected by the Inflammatory Bowel Disease Family. And I want to let sufferers and family members of sufferers to know that it can and will be better, I’m a living testimony. Please visit www.ccfa.org for more information. Liv my truth!