Tag: ibd

I went to the gym last night for the first time in two weeks! I only spent about half an hour there though because it’s so warm at the moment and I was worried my bag might come unstuck mid-workout. It was a good session but I’m so tired from it; it’s surprising what two weeks off can do to your fitness. Anyway, I plan to keep going every week up until my surgery then I’ll be taking a couple of months off. I’m considering going just to walk on the treadmill once I feel up to it but I don’t intend to do anything more than that between surgeries. I’m hoping this will help my recovery whilst keeping myself somewhat active without over doing it.

Travelling with a stoma +reversal update

Sorry I haven’t posted much this week, we’ve been so busy I just haven’t had a chance to do any updates. So, we went to Holland for a week. We stayed with friends and went to a LAN party Friday through to Sunday which was held in a school (so plenty of space, power outlets and free hot drinks from the machines). We had a really great time there and I can’t wait to go back again. We went to Amsterdam to visit the Rijks Museum and the Anne Frank House which were both very interesting and moving. I had a fantastic time over there and was really sad to leave last night but I guess reality ensued. Anyway, as for how my stoma behaved, it was fine. Even when I ate a few things I probably shouldn’t have (onions ect), it didn’t cause any issues. Going through security on the way out there was easy (no questions, no pat down ect) and going through on the way back was fine too despite having a pat down (which they do for everyone). The Security guard who patted me down was fine when I told her I had an ostomy and said she even had a friend who has one. It’s amazing how common they are, we just don’t notice them on other people. So, now I’m back in the UK for the foreseeable future and I return to work again tomorrow which’ll be fun (Read: not).

In other news, I have a date for my reversal surgery! I’ll have the first one to form the J-pouch in June and, provided it goes well, I’ll have the final one to reversal my stoma completely in August/September time.

Travelling with a stoma

So, obviously we made it through security no problem. I was quite lucky to not be asked any questions about my bag or supplies at either end of our journey (I have heard several ostomates have had pat-downs as well as having to show their bags to the security guards when travelling). The guards at the UK end waved me through the scanner and that was that. When we landed, we didn’t even see the guards because everything is done with machines.

The flight itself, although a little turbulent to begin with, went pretty well. There was no blowing up of my bag, no excessive amount of gas and no having to use the tiny planes tiny toilet. Admittedly, our flight was only about an hour so I imagine I would have needed to use the bathroom on a longer flight.

As for the last couple of days, they have been great! Today (Sunday) is the third and last day of the LAN party and we are just waiting for dinner to arrive then we’ll be packing up in a few hours. It’s been an amazing three days of just games, YouTube and more games. I have met some amazing people too and am really looking forward to the next LAN.

Tomorrow is a chill day of not doing a lot but Tuesday we are visiting Amsterdam. I’ve never been so I’ll be taking a lot of photos. We have a rough idea of what we are doing whilst we are there so it should be a fun-filled day. We fly back to the UK on Wednesday evening.

Travelling with a stoma – update

I spoke to our airline last night about taking my ostomy supplies, specifically my adhesive removal spray, in my hand luggage and they guy I spoke to was so helpful; he said that it isn’t a problem so long as it’s within the 100ml liquid limit and I’ve got my travel certificate with me. This made me very happy. My spray bottle is only 50ml and Charter give a multi-language “travel certificate” with their welcome pack. The certificate is about credit card sized and has space to list yours and your GPs details, what you are carrying and why.

I highly recommend that if you are flying, call your airline to check what their policies are on certain medical supplys if you are not sure.

Travelling with a stoma… again

So, I’m going to be flying to Holland in just under two weeks. I haven’t flown since having my ostomy so I made sure to read plenty of articles about it. Pretty much all of them are positive, saying that it shouldn’t be any different from flying without an ostomy. One recommended that, once I get to security, I tell the officers that I have a bag just in case. Has anyone else travelled via plane with an ostomy? Did it cause any issues at security?

Another thing someone said they do is split their supplies/medication between their main and hand luggage so if one gets lost, they still have some of their medical supplies. The issue I have with this is that your main luggage is more at risk of getting misplaced than your hand luggage. When travelling, I tend to be quite careful to not leave anything behind or lose sight of my bag so I prefer to travel with all my supplies in my hand luggage. I do realise, however, that this doesn’t work for everyone, especially if you have a lot to take with you.

One more thing I wanted to share was that some airlines apparently offer extra hand luggage allowance for medical supplies which I think is worth checking out. I’ll let you all know how that goes.

1 year Stomaversary!

So, today marks 1 year since getting my stoma. It’s had it’s ups and downs, but overall it’s been the best year I’ve had for a long time.

The biggest thing I’ve had to get used to is eating like a normal person again; although I am currently keeping to a (mostly) gluten-free and reduced dairy diet, I’m still learning what foods are good and what ones are still bad. Most of the bad ones consist of foods I couldn’t eat before (such as certain fruits and vegetables) but there are some new ones (like nuts and popcorn). Still, it beats living on instant noodles, plain crisps and gluten-free cereal.

Getting back to a normal sleep pattern hasn’t been hard at all; it seems I wasn’t sleeping anywhere near enough before so I’m able to sleep fine now. Other things like doing housework and being able to go out for the day are still a little bit difficult due to a lack of energy, but I have less concern about bathroom location now whenever I leave my flat.

Another thing I’ve had some trouble with is exercise; I was warned not to over stretch or lift anything heavier than a kettle for the first 6 weeks. Because I was practically bound to my room at the hospital for three weeks, my leg muscles had deteriorated quite a bit so I had to work up to walking longer distances slowly. This also meant I couldn’t exercise much at all. After a few months, my legs were almost back to their original size and strength and my stoma nurse said I was ready to start some gentle stomach exercises. She gave me a booklet that outlined ways to strengthen my abdominal muscles in order to avoid hernias. I had a bit of a false start due to some liver problems, but I started going to the gym not too long ago and it feels good to be able to get back into a routine again.

As for what to expect in the future, I’m seeing my surgeon tomorrow morning and, seeing as the issue with my liver isn’t what they thought it was, it looks like reversal is a strong possibility. I hope to get that ball rolling and have a date for the next surgery soon. For now, I’m happy to keep baggie for as long as I need to.