u/daxwashere_

Hello all. Thought I’d join and share my chronic illness story. I was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis and liver cirrhosis in my early twenties. No it was not from alcohol. I’ve been taking Pentasa and Ursodiol and have been in remission for a long time.

In 2017 I was diagnosed with testicular seminoma cancer, which means it spread into my lymph nodes in my back and one leg. I had no symptoms besides some back pain so I didn’t know I had it and it was left untreated for a long time. Found and treated with chemo and Grastofil injections and surgery leaving me with lymphedema in my right leg. At the time I was also diagnosed having been born with Hypogonadism, which was the cause. I’ve been on TRT ever since.

2025 in the span of a week I became very ill and jaundice, I went into acute liver failure. Found out it was from PSC liver disease from having Ulcerative Colitis. This was why I developed Cirrhosis. I needed and received an urgent liver transplant. During this surgery they had to remove my gallbladder and do a bowel resection as well.

From about 2023 to 2025 I had a biliary drain in my side. Progressing biliary strictures from my first transplant. I needed a second liver transplant. Early 2025 I had the second transplant surgery. This time, things went much better.

2026 I developed an intussusception which was caused by the original bowel resection where it had been stapled together. I had another resection surgery to fix it, this time they sewed the ends together instead of staples.

I’ve been on immuno suppressants for my transplants and a couple other medications. Anyway, that’s the short form of my chronic illness journey.

For the past 6 months I’ve had constant low back pain from 2 end plate fractures in L3 and L5. X-rays and CT scans show they’re chronic mild but stable and unchanged. The original injury was last summer then reinjured again in January. I feel like I’ve tried everything at this point. The only relief was from an epidural I had for a recent unrelated surgery.

My gym has a reverse hyper machine but I’m currently in too much pain to use it. And I’m still recovering from the surgery. I feel like I’ve been doing all the right things but it’s still really bad. Any suggestions or guidance would be greatly appreciated.

I’m getting an MRI next week to see if anything else is going on.
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Where’s my fellow gym rats, post transplant? What’re you doing to keep your body strong? I’ve been an avid powerlifter for years which certainly helped me through two liver transplants.