General Update Part II

Hello, folks. Apologies for the lack of updates on my end. I've been out of commission. If you read my last update, you know that I had a severe flare up of ulcerative colitis. UC is a chronic condition in which the immune system mistakenly attacks the colon, leading to inflammation. In practical terms, that entails very painful stomach cramps and diarrhea (sorry to gross you out). That's my layperson's description, at least. Generally, UC can be managed with medication, but sometimes the colon becomes so damaged that it needs to be removed. When I wrote my last update, the doctors were trying one last ditch effort to get me in remission. Well, that didn't work. As it turns out, I ended up needing surgery to have my entire colon removed. So, yeah, RIP to my colon. 

In the course of my flare up and subsequent surgery, I lost 40 lbs. There were long periods of time where I simply could not eat anything because it would exacerbate things. I won't get into all the gruesome details because it would be a bit overwhelming. I like to think I have a relatively high tolerance for pain, but this experience pushed me to my limits. It would suffice to say that abdominal surgery is rough. But I had to do it, and I'm really very lucky in a number of respects. I'll never have to worry about a flare up again, and I won't have to take expensive medications anymore.

My recovery has been slower than I had hoped, but I'm doing much better now. These past couple of weeks, I've been able to start working again. Plus I'm eating normal food and even exercising a bit. With everything going on, it's been difficult for me to wrap my head around what's in store for the channel. At this point, I'm cautiously optimistic. My energy level has really improved recently, and I think I'm going to be able to get going on a new video fairly soon. If you have any ideas, I'm all ears. That's all for now. Thanks so much for your support, and thank you to all the people who have sent me kind messages during this difficult time.