Image via AS Phillips
Sooooo many ostomates!
When I first discovered other ostomates (people with ostomies (aka stomas), I learned the global ostomate community was a huge blessing. They freely share their knowledge and experience with folks who are brand new to stoma life and are just beginning their adventures in how to live with a stoma. Some adapt quickly. Others are hampered by a plethora of health challenges making it very difficult. Others are caregivers to folks (like children) who can’t manage their stomas on their own.
Now that I’ve passed my one-year anniversary, stoma life is much easier for me, but those first eight months were often frustrating and sometimes seemed saturated with both physical and emotional difficulties and disasters.
Thankfully, the ostomate community on Facebook helped me through that phase, teaching me what I needed to know, and helping me to problem-solve and be proactive in learning more about self-care and attitude adjustment, as needed.
It’s always good to remember we’re often not alone in our challenges. Other folks are sometimes dealing with the same thing, and often, much worse than what we’re dealing with. A great example I can plug in here is my friend Dora, an ostomate since her late 60s (she’s now in her early 70s), stays physically active, regularly spends time with friends and family, mows her own lawn, attends church and picks up others to take along with her. She does all that with not just one, but TWO ostomies! She’s survived both bowel and bladder cancer and has an ostomy to function for both!
Teaching me the ropes...
Veteran ostomates engaging in social media, consistently interact with not just new ostomates, but caregivers who are also new to helping care for someone with a stoma. I learned so much from the Facebook group’s comments and quickly realized that I had it really good, in spite of the beginning issues in managing my pouching system and keeping my abdominal skin intact.
I learned about other products specifically made for active folks who have stomas like mine, which is nearly flat, small in circumference, with a half-moon-shaped rise to the left. They also taught me more about adhesives for folks who have skin sensitivity to it.
They taught me all about medical adhesive remover, skin barrier spray and how to top it off with a light layer of calamine lotion if I developed a breakdown.
While learning all this and putting it into practice, I was learning something equally important. The colostomy wasn’t a curse. It didn’t have to be something I regarded as disgusting but something that saved my life. Something to be very thankful for.
(In the beginning, I really was disgusted with everything about it and had to pray constantly for help with an attitude adjustment. The future seemed pretty dismal--stuck at home, other than for medical visits and spending a ton of time in the loo, on pouch duty.
My outlook became grim.
But, the Lord has a way of helping us see beyond our own struggles, especially when He introduces us to others who are enduring similar things, often much worse than what we’re going through.
Discovering the littles...
Beyond the grownup sphere, there are the children. Some are infants who’d had to have ostomy surgery the day after they were born!
The grownups inspired me, but the littles, their predicament broke my heart and at the same time, caused the smiles to erupt!
Sometimes, a parent would post a pic of their child, displaying their little tummies wearing their pouching system. Some were all good with it. Others were hoping other ostomates would post a pic of their own bellies, with their pouching system in place. These were usually kids from about seven years old, into their early teens, who were new ostomates and thought they were ugly and gross since getting their stomas.
The response to these kids, or their parents' requests, brought ostomates out by the hundreds, to proudly display their own abdomens and pouching systems, ensuring the littles that they had nothing to be ashamed of–that because of their stomas, they’d be able to live a full life instead of being as sick as they were before getting it.
It worked. It encouraged and emboldened the littles and had the same effect on me!
Not saying I don’t get frustrated over my stoma these days. I do. But, I maintain a steady dose of reality-check every time I see new folks, young and mature, in the ostomates group. They remind me of how blessed I am for both the stoma and the products I use that help keep me safe and among the living.
Lemme show you what I mean...
Below is a video of a little man named Elijah. He was very sick with UC (ulcerative colitis) before he had a stoma placed and part of his intestines removed.
In the vid, he gets interviewed and does a great job explaining what his stoma is and how excited he is over his new type of pouching system because it has velcro. I grinned when I saw that he and I both use the same type of system.
This vid was made about a decade ago, but, it maintains as an inspiration to ostomates and their families.
Last, props to Coloplast, the company that produces these life-changing products!
Now, here’s Elijah!
He’s one of thousands providing a bright reminder, that much of the time, things could be worse.
1st Samuel 30:5
(World Messianic Bible Translation)
The wrap!
Thank you for visiting today!
It’s my hope that even if stoma life isn’t something you’re living with, or even familiar with, you’ve found the information interesting.
Shalom
