A Tale of 10 Months

There is no way to sugar coat it. Last year was one long stream of bitter disappointments as I watched all the benefits of my successful 2011 FMT slowly fade. Bit by bit I unpeeled away the many layers of onion skin that shroud chronic digestive illness and as you do when you peel an onion, shed a tear over each one. 

The failed food intolerance injections, the disturbing functional liver detox test, the off-the-scale leaky gut test, the gall bladder inflammation, the low stomach acid and lastly a raging case of SIBO that saw my supplements sticking to my gullet like barnacles on a boat and each meal feeling like three hamsters fornicating in my stomach until they reached my lower gut only to promptly evacuate in a sea of protest. 

Then of course there were the doctors, the specialists, the tests, the vacant looks, the bills. Around the merry-go-round spun until finally the dogs barked and the carnival moved on.

BUT… I know you know how that feels because you have your own tale of woe.

The religions of the world tell us that duality exists to teach us appreciation. There is no light without dark, there is no good without evil, to love is to hate – and so it goes. That is one of the cherished lessons that chronic illness has taught me. The worse things get the more you appreciate what you have. The losses are bitter, but the wins are sublime.  And so it was that I had a major win last week.

But not before something else rotten happened. My donor trashed his gut after a month of anti-inflammatories.  So there I was alone in the house with no donor, 11 ice-cubes of 10 month old FMT sitting in my freezer and hamsters in my stomach that were now breeding a litter. I had resisted using the last of the ancient ice-cubes fearing them to be of dubious quality, but could not bring myself to throw them out in case they were needed for a rainy day.  Well it was raining hamsters now. Indeed they were hammering at my oesophagus as they had invited their relatives to take care of the new litter and needed more room. 

The broth, the diets, the D-lactate free pro-biotics, the latest burnt offerings from my VIP account at iHerb, they had all failed. To FMT or not? That was the question. Maybe it would be a waste of time anyway. Maybe my digestive system was so far gone that even FMT wouldn’t work anymore. Oh yeah. The Queen of All Things Fecal fails at FMT.

I have become increasingly casual about FMT because after three months of doing it in 2011 it all became very business-as-usual. You initially approach it with such fear and trepidation, yet it becomes just like brushing your teeth once you’re used to it. It’s mere intestinal flora in an unsavoury package god-damn-it. Get over it.

So yes I tried the 10 month old FMT, preserved with a few drops of glycerol just as the CDD had recommended. Within 48 hours the torrent pouring from my battered bowel subsided and half the hamsters had packed up and gone.

I heaved a great sigh of relief and contemplated my victory with euphoric elation.  I wondered who could possibly appreciate a bizarre win like this and decided that would be YOU.

Not only does FMT work, not only does frozen FMT work, but 10 month old frozen FMT works well when you only use one 1 ice-block a day and have some pretty hard-core digestive issues going on.  Amazing huh?

The year ahead suddenly looks brighter. Thanks again wonderful donor. Go the Poop.

When adversity whispers "Give up" 

Hope says "Try just one more time." 

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