Surgery and Ulcerative Colitis

Sorry to have neglected you all for a few days.Sunday was Mother's Day and when you have six children and assorted grandchildren, Mother's Day quickly expands to Mother's Day weekend. I'm not complaining, mind you. I had a grand time.
Yesterday, I made the three hour trek to Edmonton, this time to speak with a surgeon, and it looks like I'll be undergoing the surgery for my ulcerative colitis in the fall. I'm not looking forward to it. The operation takes, the surgeon says, about seven hours. That's a long operation, especially when you're in your seventies. When it's over I'll be minus my colon, and I'll have a bag to collect the feces.
I'm currently on prednisone and Imuran and still suffering debilitating flare-ups. This disease is ruining my life and I've reached the stage where I'm prepared to do anything to stop it.

I figure I have about three months to either defeat this disease or optimize my health before I have the surgery, so one last ditch effort. Yesterday I found a book entitled What to Eat with IBD. I'm going to give it a try.