Well! As many of you will have hopefully seen, yesterday myself and this little blog graced the pages of the local paper! How exciting! A lovely reporter, Ellis, has written an article about my battle with the disease and how I want to raise awareness of it. Secretly I just do it so I can one day meet David (we are on first name terms you see)...
But joking aside I'm excited that it has raised awareness about IBD but especially having an ostomy.
If by reading this article, and hopefully then reading my blog, even one person has a better understanding of what it all means and how it doesn't have to be the end of your life, then that is my job done well.
So... first stop local paper, next stop This Morning?!
One thing that does scare me is that thousands of people in my local area will no know that I have Margaret! I do like to think there is more to me than Margaret and Crohn's but I accept that that is what many people will know me by.
Hopefully I won't be heckled in the street eh. "Show us ya bag love" - that would be a bit awkward...
Aside from this blog I have been doing a bit of extra writting. Mainly guest blog posts for other amazing bloggers and people with IBD but also pieces for fashion and internship based sites, which is really brilliant. One that I was especially happy to write was for a brilliant website www.inspiringinterns.com.
They are an incredibly helpful site dedicated to helping people find internships, work placements and graduate jobs, many of which lead on to a full time roll or graduate job. I sent them my blog to have a little read and in return they asked to me write a guest post for their site!
The rest should all be going live over the next few weeks so the moment they do I will post a link on here for you all to check out. Sometimes I have written about my whole Crohn's story or other experiences, but the content is very often different from my blog - in other words you should all definitely read it!
Finally I have some very exciting news. Off the back of my article in the local paper I received a call from BBC Radio Berkshire yesterday. I was chatting to friends at the time so didn't pick up the call but listened to the voicemail a while later. They had seen the piece about me and had checked out my blog and were interested in conducting an interview with me about the disease, my blog and I guess, Margaret.
This little intestine is going to be famous!
We sorted out all the details and it was decided that I would feature on the Breakfast Show today. This did not give me much time to prepare myself I tell you!
I didn't think I would be that nervous, all it is is talking and I love to do that! But I only got four hours sleep last night I was so busy going over possible questions they might ask me.
This morning I was picked up by a lovely taxi man at 8:35 who took me to the small studio in the local council building. I couldn't get myself up to the main studios so was doing a live interview from this smaller studio instead. I walked in, met a very nice press officer who showed me how everything worked in this small cupboard of a room. I then sat there with headphones on and a microphone on the table, waiting for it all to start.
From 9:00 I could hear the radio show through my head phones and it was clearly a jam packed show. The producer was talking through the headphones every now and again updating me on when I would be on. Strangely the longer the wait the less nervous I got! The light in the room was on a timer so every now and again it kept turning off and plunging me in to darkness. It took me a couple of seconds to work out it was on a motion sensor; from there on every time it did it I waved around like a maniac. Eventually, it was my turn! It went so fast and the presenter was nice. I had to answer questions about the disease and how it effects my life, as well as the bag and also how other people react to my disease. We also spoke a bit about the blog and raising awareness. Once it was all over I turned the machine off and just walked out. It was the most surreal few hours. It was only as I was chatting to the taxi guy on the way home (he had kindly waited for me for over an hour) that it dawned on me that I was unsure whether the name of my blog was even mentioned! Whoops! How we managed that I don't know. I will post a link to the interview when I find it!
Once that stress was over I spent the rest of the day sitting in the gorgeous sunshine with my lovely dogs reading Clare Balding's autobiography. I especially love the bits about dogs... of course!
I tweeted about how heart breaking it is and she replied! Which totally made my day!
My lovely stoma nurse also gave me a call to make sure I was okay - she has ordered lots of TLC - I am being looked after by the nicest people! My weekend is going to include lots of relaxing, sunshine yummy food (salad not included) & visiting my old school fete.
What are you all doing this weekend?
Lots of love
xxx
Hi Gabi, just wanted to send you a little message to say how brave I think you are. I can't believe how well you look only a month after surgery. My boyf had a sub total colectomy and ileostomy last year and he had a very rough couple of weeks in hospital afterwards. We are now almost 9 months post op and he is better than he has ever been in the 5 years we have been together. You seem to have a really great family support network which will be so good for your recovery. I hope that you are feeling better than you have been with your Crohns disease. My boyf had ulcerative colitis and he says he feels so much better now he has the bag. It takes some getting used to but it's better than the alternative. Speaking from the other side and living with someone with a bag I can honestly say I would rather have him with his bag for the rest of his life than see him go through what he did last year. You are a very brave young woman, keep blogging and raising awareness, it its so important that people understand more about IBD and its effects. :-)
ReplyDeleteHey,
DeleteThank you so much for such a kind message. I am so glad your boyfriend is doing better and that the op has changed his life for the better. I am getting there slowly, and starting to feel so much more like myself.
Ah and it is so nice to hear the other side of things, your boyfriend is lucky to have someone so supportive at their side.
Thanks so much!
x