ABSTRACT
For many people with colitis there comes a time when the possibility of surgery has to be confronted. A medical practitioner may indicate that because of the state of the patient’s health, or because of the lifethreatening nature of the illness, surgery is required. For some people such an announcement of medical opinion may be the first time they learn that their disease requires an operation. For the majority, however, when the recommendation for surgery is made, there has already been a period of time during which they have become, or have been made aware of, that possibility. At whatever point the patient learns of the prospect of surgery, a new identity as prospective surgical case needs to be defined. If surgery is a distant possibility the salience of such an identity may be very limited. If, on the other hand, surgery is urgently required, it will be likely to have much greater immediacy for the patient. The degree to which the sense of self is concordant with the identity is critical in understanding the ambivalence shown by many people towards the prospect of surgery.
