At first I was devastated. I have never had a major surgery aside from my bike wreck jaw thingy. Its like being a failure somehow, my inability to keep it all together, irrational of course. For all these years, I was able to keep my UC beast happily in remission. Now, not! How much control did I have, really
Keep that monster asleep and then I could pretend its not even there and that I am actually 100% okay. Most likely, if you have UC, eventually a decision must be made concerning surgery. How long you dance and sleep with this beast is really not infinite. I think ten, maybe fifteen years is probably a long time. Others, its shorter.
I will see Dr. Richard C. Thirlby in one week to discuss the procedure. A date for surgery has not been set.
IAR – Ileoanal Reservoir Procedure is the total removal of the large colon and a smaller colon is re-fashioned using the lower end of the smaller intestine. Thats how you get from colon to semi-colon. 
I really like the New York Times article I’ve linked to here. Its very hopeful. This surgery was first done in 1978.
