More than just a bag lady

When I was opening my mail a couple of weeks ago there was an official looking envelope. I thought it was probably another  bill (they seem to be coming thick and fast since we moved into the new house) but no, it was worse than that. It was a letter from the DWP (Department for Work and Pensions) telling me that I must to complete the enclosed capability for work questionnaire ( pictured below in all its glory) within a few weeks  or they will stop all of my benefit money.  Fan-bloody-tastic. Just what I need. Another million page booklet to fill in. I started to flick through but my head started spinning as I read the questions. I had to fill something like this in a while back when I was initially begging, sorry, requesting financial assistance from the government. I rather naively thought that as I have a chronic condition and that a number of doctors have told me that I'm never going to get any better and that this is as good as it's going to get that I thought that that w

I've got pouchitis. That's an infection in the j-pouch and it's not nice. The j-pouch is formed out of the small intestine and has to do the job of the rectum. The problem is that the small intestine isn't designed to hold poo so in some people it gets inflamed and ulcerates which then leads to infection. It causes bleeding, urgency and the need to go to the toilet. A lot.  Over the last 2 weeks my bowels have not been great which I guess was the start of it all. I went back onto a really plain diet to see if that would help but last weekend I spent more time on the toilet than off so knew that it wasn't going to sort itself out. I've been getting up in the night 4, 5, 6 times and even falling asleep on the loo. It's left me feeling exhausted and drained and the pain is pretty bad too. It would probably be a lot worse if I hadn't recently had the ketamine infusion so that was good timing I guess. Once I realised that I was probably suffering from pouchit