Julian was diagnosed with MS at the age of 27 where at the time he was a research worker. Over the years he completed a PhD and became a Physiologist. Although occasionally his MS was and could be a burden, it is in the last 10 years that his MS has progressed rapidly where he now uses a wheelchair and has poor dexterity. This led to his retirement, although he is constantly keeping himself busy and has plenty to keep himself occupied. Living by the sea bracing travels on the prom in an electric wheelchair or sailing, though no longer singlehanded sadly, replaced by now a crazy mixture of singing in a choir, electronics, radios & books, as well as the odd bit of reminiscence!
With the rapid progression of his MS came a world of bowel dysfunction, namely faecal incontinence. He had 6 years of padding himself up and numerous accidents, which sometimes meant leaving events to go home to clean himself up. This became exhausting trying to manage the faecal incontinence because there was so much unpredictability and so he did his own research on how best to manage his symptoms, which led him to looking into the use of rectal irrigation.
Julian kept in touch with the Continence Service but now having a supra-pubic urinary catheter he had lost touch. Finally, Julian was ‘trapped’ in the flat unless he was sure his bowel was empty as one bump in the pavement or kerb and you can guess! He was aware of irrigation methods and realised that unless he really wanted to become a hermit, he needed to do something about it, so he contacted the Continence Service.
Julian has for the past few months been using the Qufora IrriSedo Klick system, which he feels is easy to put together, in spite of his poor dexterity. He states that it is an uncomplicated solution that is easy to use and within two weeks he had a routine that fitted in with his lifestyle. So much so he no longer feels the need to take a ruck sack with a change of clothes out with him wherever he goes. This year because of his new found confidence with his bowel management he was even planning to go to Glastonbury Festival and wishes he had the use of rectal irrigation years ago.
