PeteZahut

Scel, what kind of engineering to you specialize in?

All, I have been relatively silent about my battle with Ulcerative Colitis except a few hints at some health issues over the last couple of years. Well 3.5 years ago I was diagnosed with UC after being sick for only 2 months. 6 months later I was in for emergency surgery and had my entire colon removed. Over the next 3 years I had 4 more surgeries (1 emergency oops surgery after a failure in one) to fashion a j-pouch out of my small intestine (j-pouch is built to act like a colon, but smaller and less capacity). I am happy to say it has been 6 months since my last surgery to go from a temporary ostomy to a j-pouch. It is still a battle but I am stronger then I have been in years. It is sad when I see how many people are actually affect by Crohns or Colitis. I am sure you know someone. I understand there are a lot of hardships going out there with the economy the devastation going on up north. If you can spare a donation it would be hugely appreciated but that is not the only reason I am posting this. It is difficult for some to talk about the disease and I wanted to offer my experience if you want to talk. I am an open book and no topic is off limit when it comes to this. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions. Stay strong! Thanks for your help. #nocolonstillrollin Here is a link to my fundraising page: https://crohnsandcolitiscanada.akaraisin.com/GutsyWalk2016/ChrisBrandt Thanks, Chris

Awesome, thanks!

Guys, I have noticed a few fundraisers posted on the forum. Most have been going on for years. I am about to start fundraising, it is a licensed, legal,etc. charity. Can I post a link on the forum?

$100 on item 4.

Doesn't Bass Pro do the same with their flies? It has been a few years since I bought from there but that what I remember.

Oh no, that's too bad. That shop is a staple down there.

I would say all of those hints in the Castle area will keep you busy and entertained for awhile. Beautifula area and great fishing.

Amusing

How cute. Love the spots around the eyes, almost like freckles. That's why you have fallen in love isn't it?

I like that idea for indicator.

Fully agree Clive. Now that I got a taste of it I want to go back up. Really would like to see some of the Yukon. That is awesome you made it up to Nunavut. I can imagine the vastness and mystique there is indescribable. One of my favourite moments is we spent an afternoon walking around a small Aboriginal village of 40 people talking with the locals. Pretty amazing as they were preparing for the big hunt. Blows me away the sense of community there. They had signs up on their tribal office asking for volunteers to go help on the hunt. They do that every year as they prepare for the winter. Pretty humbling. Made me a bit sad to see how we have advanced so far technologically basically separating ourselves from our community and then we have places like that where the people live simply and off what nature provides and seemed more happy then most here. I got some real perspective up there and so happy that I got to share that with my wife and daughter.

It's funny, a number of people have said that about Bollocks. We had fine service and the food was amazing. Best fish and chips I have ever had. We chatted with the owner for quite a bit of time while she prepared bread for dinner. Wonderful lady, a little rough around the edges but an interesting character. We also made it to the Wildcat cafe for breakfast which was pretty awesome too.

The last couple of years we have been talking about doing a trip up to the NWT. But due to a tough battle with Ulcerative Colitis I have been unable to do it. As I posted earlier in the summer about an amazing trip with Dave Jensen, this was a continuation of me taking my life back and doing what I want to do. So we packed up the camper and made the trek from Calgary to the NWT. We spent 13 nights as we camped along the way and then spent 8 nights in three different campgrounds up there. They sure now how to do a beautiful campground, pure pride! We didn't have much for weather but did manage a couple of nice days. I did manage to catch a couple of pike but the rivers were blown out so no grayling for me. Wonderful people up there too. I think between my wife and I we took about 2000 photos and so picking ones to share was tough. So I decided to randomly pick a few to show the amazing scenery up there. Hope you enjoy.

Nice job Clive!

Beauties.

We have lots of room in our basement Dave if you need to offload any of them...especially those new ones you recently reviewed.

Keep writing, I am enjoying the read. Perhaps one day soon I will hear one around a fire. That would be entertaining I am sure.

Our thoughts and prayers are with you and your family.

Wow foamy, sorry you have to deal with Crohns but glad to hear you have not to have plumbing removed. That is such a crappy thing about crohns, even if you remove some it could come back somewhere else. At least with my UC we got rid of the whole thing. Now I deal with other issues, we all have our battles. I hear you about the scopes. I hated the prep more then then the scope. Be well all! And thanks again for being such a supportive group of people.

Beautiful fish!

Thanks for the kind words everyone. I could have gone on and on about the day but some of that is just for me. I keep getting stronger and hopefully only one more surgery to go. I don't however feel sorry for myself nor do I let any of this stand in my way. With acceptance of slight modifications of what I can do, I will continue to do what I love when I want.

I haven't posted much in a long time, many reasons which I won't get into now. But two weeks ago I had a special experience I wanted to share. Coming up on three years ago I started to get sick. After months of issues and going back and forth with the clinics, I was diagnosed with severe ulcerative colitis. 6 months after that I required emergency surgery to remove my entire colon. When I came out of the hospital after that, an amazing group of my buddies bought me a guided trip with Dave Jensen whom my wife and I have been out with numerous times. It was quite touching that they would do this for me as they know what fishing does to mind and soul. Between floods and a couple more surgeries we finally were able to make a trip. And before I go into that I want to say something about Dave. I am sure you all know that he gave up the guiding business over a year ago to pursue other interests, the most obvious being the Alberta Fishing Guide. Well even though my friends bought this for me over two years ago he said we would make this trip happen no matter what and no matter when. He knew what this trip meant to me and made sure we did what I wanted and what my body was able to do. He made the time to research what people in my condition can normally eat and adjusted any food he brought to accommodate that. His humor is awesome and fish spotting skills are unreal I can go on and on...I do hope that one day he rejoins the guiding world as he has so much to offer. So we finally agreed on a destination and a time. The decision was to bike about 8 km up a horse trail and then explore some water. My wife and I just bought bikes this summer so I thought what a great idea. We had the most amazing day! Regret a bit buying a hard tail as the rocks we went over left my back end hurting quite a bit for days. We found a little piece of heaven with no one around and a stupid amount of cutts willing to play. Fished nothing but dries all day long! The day provided a most necessary escape from the crap I have gone through (and continue to) over the past couple of years. I smiled for hours straight, laughed and giggled like a little kid, felt new again. Thank you Dave and of course my wife for giving me a day I will never forget. Just a couple of photos: This one courtesy of Dave Jensen, the wife and I having a blast: Where we started: More fun:

Beauty

Wow