Hello. I have just recently been diagnosed with UC. It's been about a three week ordeal so far. After about a week of diarrhea I went to the ER but they just gave me some IV fluids and sent me home thinking I just ate some bad food. I didn't have a regular doctor at the time but I was able to get an appointment to see a nurse practitioner. At the time I wasn't really having stomach pain. She did some blood work and sent me home. 3 days later the stomach pain started and I was started to bleed with my stool. She got in touch with the GI doctor of their group and they told me to go to the ER and get checked in. They took me in for a cat scan and admitted me under Dr. Rhodes care. I was in the hospital for a week and also got a colonoscopy. My moms side of the family had a lot of history of UC. When they got back the cultures from the colonoscopy they confirmed that's what I had. I was shocked to see the films. My colon look like raw hamburger. The doctor said my whole colon was enflamed. They had me on IV steroids for the week until the pain stopped. I was home for another week but could not work. I actually started back to work this week and feel pretty good. I know I have a ways to go but I will get through it. I feel like I got excellent care and from some of the stories I've seen I'm actually doing pretty good so far. My sister told me about this site so I thought I would check it out and see how other people are dealing with their issues. By the way I am 57 male. I'm hoping I can get some valuable feedback from everyone and along the way maybe I can help someone out with my experiences in the future. Thanks for the opportunity