Ulcerative colitis is a shit! It robs you of confidence and mobility and more. I am 53 and I have had it since I was 40. This year I have had two mortal scrapes, I don’t plan to have a third.

So after many tortuous hours of soul searching I have finally submitted to the knife. I am going to be disembowelled.

This is the story of that journey.

At the time of writing this post I have simply put in process the chain of events. Now I am in a kind of limbo, next Tuesday I will meet the surgeon and my consultant and the process will start for real.

Yes, I’m scared. I am a big hairy man. I am grown up, I have kids and a wife, I’m not phased by giving a lecture, I have had operations before. But I am scared. There’s no denying that.

Come with me on this journey and maybe we’ll all learn something.