Tag: ostomy

Just had the bike test in preparation for my surgery in June. It was harder than I was expecting but they don’t make you do more than you are able to. I’m currently sat in waiting for “surgery school” to start. Not really sure what to expect but I’m hopinh it’ll be informative.

My supplies for changing baggie: a new bag (obviously), scissors to cut the hole to the right size (28mm), clean dry wipes (devided into three to make them last longer), a mini bin bag to put the old bag and used dry wipes in, a small pot for warm water (used for cleaning the stoma and the skin around it), adhesive removal spray and barrier cream (to help with itchiness under the adhesive).

thechronicchillpill:

Your illness has not made you ugly

Your feeding tube has not made you ugly.

Your ostomy has not made you ugly

Your cane has not made you ugly

Your wheelchair has not made you ugly

Your oxygen has not made you ugly

Your wig/your bald head has not made you ugly

Your teeth or lack of has not made you ugly

Your body has not made you ugly

Your medications has not made you ugly

Your rashes, blemishes, scars and bruises has not made you ugly

Not being able to shower has not made you ugly

Flashbacks and paranoia has not made you ugly

Changes in your body and brain has not made you ugly

Having seizures has not made you ugly

Your trauma, depression and anxiety has not made you ugly

Your hallucinations, brain fog, and confusion has not made you ugly

Your lack of control over your body, brain, mood and life has not made you ugly.

Please never feel ashamed or ugly about what your illness has done to you, no matter what it has changed it can not change the beauty that you have, so even if you feel like youre not beautiful right now, please remember,

You are beautiful and your disability can never take that from you.

“You are beautiful and your disability can never take that from you.”

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.