so far i found out:

that MY FEARS of it being like the recent blood-in-toilet-bowl experience, only now having progressed — don’t you hate that word — to being completely internal — ARE PROBABLY UNFOUNDED.

that though that was scary, i mean monty-python-tis-but-a-scratch scary (argh, pun unintended), that was not necessary, since the blood was all an arterial bright red. yes this can still be a symptom of Something Else Horribly Wrong — but then i remembered that haemorrhoid that got really big from time to time, and whaddaya know, it was *gone.*

(that one can go quite some time w/o pooping if one is afeared one will bleed to death)

and, and most importantly for the above post, IF SOMETHING HAD SOME SORT OF TEAR OR HOLE OR LEAKY GASKET DOWN THERE, THE OVERWHELMING PROBABILITY IS THAT I WOULD BE RUNNING AT LEAST A LOW GRADE FEVER as well as experiencing other signs of sepsis or infection. otherwise the lower intestine is intact. still one could be the one exception, but this is how it is with most people, especially if the condition has gone on longer than it-just-happened and/or one is not nuts, in shock, an android, o somehow immune to all disease.

i understand you may have lost some nerves’ function (and it seems gained others’). so although this may not apply, it may be useful for other readers, who i am sure were grateful for your forthrightness,even if they were too embarrassed to comment.

i will try and remember to come back and post when i get any more information — or you can write to me. hopefully i will get answers, or at least good leads. if i never make it back, the hints i am working on are: IBS; Vit. D or Magnesium deficiency; diverticulitis; chronic dehydration; food allergies; parasites; and of course, lurking behind all that, The Dreaded Something Way Worse..

i thought about being too embarrassed, but couldn’t, because more than that i am impressed by your courage in posting this. way to go. the only way to fight the way they exploit our medical fears. right on. right the fuck on.

hope you get this. hope you are doing well, now that it is almost two years later.

Jackie got through a relationship during which she was an ostomate. I’ve heard of people’s partners leaving when they got a bag but that wasn’t her experience. It wasn’t hers. So, what’s your point?

Personally, I’m impressed as always by your awesome attitude Jackie. And (sorry to say this) if I were faced with a partner with MS and another with an ostomy I have to say the MS would scare the living shit out of me so much more. I’m glad you’ve met someone who thinks you’re worth learning about both, that says a lot about you. I hope you find much happiness.

And let’s face it, we are all defective in some way. Some of us just have convenient initials and “causes” to label the defects. Fellow MSer here. <3