Working blind

WORKING BLIND.

With rhymes, I very often find
that when a concept comes to mind
it is because they affect me
in some small way quite personally.
 
Today I had a small eye op,
which made the sight in one eye stop
and as my glasses would not fit
I only saw through a small slit.

So there I was, more than half blind
wondering how I would find
a way to manage  my stoma
with the output and aroma.

Because I irrigate each day
I tend to have a vast array
of equipment to sort through
and lots of sight-full things to do.

I have just finished with this task
and so this rhyme’s for those who ask
how I managed to get by
with my eyesight gone awry.

The answer is, it was not good
as I suspected that it would
not be easy without sight
to get the irrigation right.

With experience and precedence
I felt I had self-confidence
to do this task whilst blindfolded
but that’s not how it unfolded. 

What I can now quite safely say
is I empathise with those who may
have lost their sight but still have got 
to manage stomas and that grot. 

I’ve learned that things can be much worse,
which is the moral of this verse.

                                                B.Withers 2024

Oh my, your poem today shines a light

on those who have a similar plight

Issues that folks go through

Gives me such a different view

My current eyesight is not great

but what I have I appreciate

Welcome back! jb

🫣 How can we help you?

Happy you had a successful operation. I don't have the same vision as I did when I started my ostomy journey. It is harder for me to get good placement of my wafer. I have thought about how people can manage their ostomies without caregivers if their sight goes.

Tough it out and hope the cat decides not to help. 😂

Staying Hydrated with an Ostomy with LeeAnne Hayden | Hollister

Glad you had a successful surgery. 

I often think about this topic. It's just me, and I worry how I will be able to do what needs to be done without needing assistance.  

I guess I'll cross that bridge when it comes.  

hello kittybou.

Thank you for your offer of 'help'.

In a very practical sense this will not be necessary, as these things usually quickly heal and we get back to 'normal'. (whatever that is!)
However, I would reiterate what I have said many times before about people on this site: That they are extremely helpful just by their very being.
Knowing that there are supportive people out there is often enough to raise the spirits and help in ways that are not necessarily physically practical but are nonetheless psychologically and emotionally very useful.

Many thanks 

and best wishes

Bill

Bill, I enjoy most of your insights but this one really touched close to home. I have severe neuropathy in my hands resulting from a spinal injury. This is one of the reasons I use a closed pouch -- it is easier for me to remove and replace a pouch than drain and close an open pouch. Rolling up the end of the pouch is challenging but putting on the clip is worse. I don't have the hand strength for the ones you can snap to secure. I live in Florida and UV has taken its toll on my eyes over the years. I was supposed to get cataract surgery last year  but that was supplanted by numerous surgeries culminating in a colostomy. I will need to get the cataract surgery this year but I had not thought about the additional challenges it will cause in managing my stoma. Perhaps you will be able to read this note once your eyesight recovers and you can see how you provided awareness to this uninformed soul. 

I dread getting too old and gaga to be able to manage my stoma. How can you get help when the bag needs changing at different times?

This is one of the reasons I would like a reversal. I am also scared about the reversal in case I need yet more surgery afterwards.

HELP !

Hello aTraveler.
Thank you for your comment about appreciating my writing as it is always gratifying to get this sort of feedback.
The cataract surgery went well and in just a few days I feel as if my sight has returned to near normal. ( see todays post - 'I can see clearly now').
I was given the option of having both eyes done at once or one at a time. 
In discussions with the relevant people, I explained that I needed 'minimal' sight everyday to cater to the needs of my stoma and this led to the decision to just have one eye done at a time. 
The poem 'Working Blind' was therefore a bit of  'poet's licence', imagining what it might have been like trying to manage the stoma (even temporarily) if I could not see at all. 
On a similar topic. Your own situation with severe neuropathy in your hands would make a great rhyme in relation to catering to the stoma, so if you would like to elaborate a bit more on the difficulties this condition poses, it would give me great pleasure to try to capture the concept in rhyme.
Thanks in anticipation:

Best wishes

Bill 

Bill, I have no talents in poetry; therefore, I don't know what information would be useful to you. I'll detail some of the challenges I have in managing the stoma. I have a two-piece closed pouch system with adhesive coupling. Whether I am changing a pouch or the whole appliance, I need to stage pouches, bags, etc. Things that are extremely painful to touch are paper (including toilet paper), plastic bags, cloth, and water. I use 2 doggie poop bags and 1 larger trash can bag. 1 doggie bag is used to store the removed pouch, and the other contains any other soiled materials. They are placed in the larger bag along with any other trash I may have. As soon as you touch one of the bags, the pain comes unrelentingly. You have to open the bags prior to placing content in them and close them after content has been placed in them. Oftentimes, your hand dexterity and pain threshold are not up to the task of tying the bag closed. You need to use twist ties to tie up the bags. Unfortunately, to get a good tie, the first twist needs to be strong and tight. Good luck with that; I just do the best I can. When changing the wafer, you have the same thing along with cleaning and prepping the skin. It is suggested to clean the skin with a washcloth and water. That combination is just too painful; I use gauze and water in a spray bottle. The gauze does not hurt to touch, and I can dampen it with the spray bottle. Due to a little dip around my stoma, I need to use an Eakin ring. Because of the lack of dexterity in my hands and the stickiness of the Eakin, it is very difficult to get the ring secured around the stoma. Sometimes I have to go to a second ring due to the first ring sticking to the skin and having to peel it off, leading to the ring being stretched too thin to use. The next challenge is trying to align the wafer over the stoma and ring. To keep from having to start over, I have to proceed very slowly and methodically while using a stoma genie. Due to the location of my stoma, the wafer has a tendency for the tape boundaries on the wafer to come loose at the top and sometimes bottom. To remedy this, I use flange extenders. With restricted dexterity, trying to apply the extenders is frustratingly slow. I eat marshmallows before I start to stop/reduce flow long enough to let me finish. It's not sexy, but it lasts for four days between changes. So, you can see how vision impairments can hinder this process. I pray that I am always able to do this because I don't know if anyone else will be as conscientious to do the task properly. The better thought is that the technology will continue to improve.

Hello aTraveler.
Thank you very much for this information which is very descriptive, helpful, and ideal for my purpose of composing  rhyme.
Your very brief previous post gave me the concept, which I have already written a rhyme on and will post it on here ( possibly tomorrow).

However, now I have this additional information, I will focus on writing a rhyme to try to capture what you are saying.

If this second rhyme is finished by tomorrow I will post that first and then the other one the day after. 
It is so useful to have this sort of detail about how people cope with their stomas and you are a credit and a role-model for all those who have additional disabilities which impinge on the management of stomas. 
Your account (in prose) of your daily management will probably be much more relevant and pertinent than my rhymes, and for that I thank you on behalf of everyone who reads it, relates, and empathises with it.
You are a bright star within the stoma galaxy!

Best wishes

Bill