Just a short note about me, I have had my colostomy since January 9, 2009. It was a pain in the ass the whole time. I never had a bag stay on me for more than a couple of hours for the whole time I have had it. I complained to the doctors to fix it the whole time. I had a 4-inch wafer and pouch, and I had to cut it from side to side in the shape of an eye. Plus, it hung out of my stomach 7 inches into my bag, so it never sealed no matter what I did. So, about the 6th of December 2015, on Mom and Dad's anniversary, once again I ended up in the hospital. I lost 2.5 pints of blood from my wonderful stoma. They couldn't find the tear after 2 days in the hospital; it sealed itself up. Back to the doctors I went, complaining about, "Okay, look, now this happened to me." I went to the VA hospital in Salt Lake City, Utah, for the first consultation ever about what my options could be.
At first, it was battling on a reconnect and trying to use my butt again. I told him it had been a long time since I used my butt, and I researched about a reversal and still, on the low end of a percentage of working, I wasn't up for that at all. Then I brought up that I also still have the disease (Hirschsprung's disease) in my intestine. If it went south on me, it would be faster to find again. I wasn't going to take all the meds they say to take to poop (even though they were over the counter) that might work or might not be a normal poop or know where every bathroom is house to house and crap my pants.
The doctor was fair and good to me because when I brought up there is no 100 percent guarantee it would work or a higher chance to fail, I still had a chance to end up like a man I met that has to wear a diaper because sometimes he doesn't know when his bowels decide to just take a dump and he shits his pants. So I told him I was happy with my bag; I just wanted a more normal size stoma, and a smaller bag and wafer to wear so I could do other things that I enjoy doing and to have other options of bags, supplies, stoma protections, and many other things.
So on May 20, 2016, I got my wish. He did a revision and resited my stoma. I have a small butt now, and I can wear my new size wafer and pouch for 2 to 3 days, which is a blessing all by itself. Not only am I still healing, I have been able to enjoy more outdoor things I like to do without having my friends smell me when the bag would blow out. I have some really good friends that just would carry some sort of air freshener to ease the pain from the toxic smell I would have. They understood that I would take longer to get ready to go outside, so now I enjoy my bow hunting way more than before. My bag isn't a big pain in the ass, no more blowouts from the heat or movement from twisting and getting up from a chair. I still can't work because of the weight restrictions I have to have so I don't cause another parastomal hernia like I had before and cause a hernia where the old site is. I just have to realize that I can't do everything I used to do. So I have to have help when it comes to picking things up that are heavy. Yeah, that isn't as easy as it sounds either :) But things are much better now. Time to find that little gal pal that will put up with the crap and do my favorite things.
Just a short note about me, I have had my colostomy since January 9, 2009. It was a pain in the ass the whole time. I never had a bag stay on me for more than a couple of hours for the whole time I have had it. I complained to the doctors to fix it the whole time. I had a 4-inch wafer and pouch, and I had to cut it from side to side in the shape of an eye. Plus, it hung out of my stomach 7 inches into my bag, so it never sealed no matter what I did. So, about the 6th of December 2015, on Mom and Dad's anniversary, once again I ended up in the hospital. I lost 2.5 pints of blood from my wonderful stoma. They couldn't find the tear after 2 days in the hospital; it sealed itself up. Back to the doctors I went, complaining about, "Okay, look, now this happened to me." I went to the VA hospital in Salt Lake City, Utah, for the first consultation ever about what my options could be.
At first, it was battling on a reconnect and trying to use my butt again. I told him it had been a long time since I used my butt, and I researched about a reversal and still, on the low end of a percentage of working, I wasn't up for that at all. Then I brought up that I also still have the disease (Hirschsprung's disease) in my intestine. If it went south on me, it would be faster to find again. I wasn't going to take all the meds they say to take to poop (even though they were over the counter) that might work or might not be a normal poop or know where every bathroom is house to house and crap my pants.
The doctor was fair and good to me because when I brought up there is no 100 percent guarantee it would work or a higher chance to fail, I still had a chance to end up like a man I met that has to wear a diaper because sometimes he doesn't know when his bowels decide to just take a dump and he shits his pants. So I told him I was happy with my bag; I just wanted a more normal size stoma, and a smaller bag and wafer to wear so I could do other things that I enjoy doing and to have other options of bags, supplies, stoma protections, and many other things.
So on May 20, 2016, I got my wish. He did a revision and resited my stoma. I have a small butt now, and I can wear my new size wafer and pouch for 2 to 3 days, which is a blessing all by itself. Not only am I still healing, I have been able to enjoy more outdoor things I like to do without having my friends smell me when the bag would blow out. I have some really good friends that just would carry some sort of air freshener to ease the pain from the toxic smell I would have. They understood that I would take longer to get ready to go outside, so now I enjoy my bow hunting way more than before. My bag isn't a big pain in the ass, no more blowouts from the heat or movement from twisting and getting up from a chair. I still can't work because of the weight restrictions I have to have so I don't cause another parastomal hernia like I had before and cause a hernia where the old site is. I just have to realize that I can't do everything I used to do. So I have to have help when it comes to picking things up that are heavy. Yeah, that isn't as easy as it sounds either :) But things are much better now. Time to find that little gal pal that will put up with the crap and do my favorite things.
