The Social

Hello,

I'm new to the site, looks like a friendly place to talk and find out how you all navigate through living with an ostomy.

GUYS WHO WEAR TIGHT SHIRTS to show off their muscles seem slightly effeminate to me. On the other hand, I wear loose shirts which masks my lack of muscles, so what does that say about me? Prior to the pandemic, when I was going to the gym, I got a kick out of the beefy guys that strutted about hefting weights. It seemed that they had something in mind other than just tuning up their health. ...

Hi everyone, I had my surgery on 10/30/24, removing 10 inches of my ileum due to a stricture from radiation for ovarian cancer. I had experienced over 2 dozen complete small bowel obstructions over 15 months and it was getting steadily worse. The stricture diameter was only the size of a pencil at the time of surgery. I am just now learning how to put on a new wafer and 2 piece system. I n ...

I am a 38 year old ostomate. I have a colostomy due to Spina Bifida. I am a male. Looking for friends. I am interested in anything science, amateur radio, nascar, or computers. I am looking for new friends my age with similar interests.

I mentioned to my husband that many people name their stomas but I hadn't come up with names for mine.

His reply: you could them Darrell and introduce them as my stoma Darrell and my other stoma Darrell.

Have had an ileo. due to Crohn’s since 1992. Just wanna chill & enjoy life. I love a good cocktail, jazz, appreciate a classy demeanor. I’m 54. Married for 31 years, so a female or gay male friend would be lovely.

For a good part of my long life I have frequently busted into song when the lyrics fit the occasion. It somewhat annoys my son-in-law and he will mimic Shrek and he will say….STOP SINGING ! This always creates family laughter and of course it cannot stop a lifelong habit. As a side note…he still loves me….

Well, as we have frequently heard…Karma is a bitch….

So, I was on the p ...

Hi all. I am a 38 year old college student with Spina Bifida. I am paralyzed from the waist down and have a colostomy bag. I am a new ostomate looking for others my age with experience with an ostomy to learn from and make friends.

IF LEFT TO MY OWN DEVICES, I would have a terrible diet. My three main food groups would be sweets, chips, and pasta. But, fortunately for my longevity, my spouse sees to it that I eat right (most of the time). I’ve even finally managed to develop a taste (or a habit) for vegetables. “There is nothing you can say,” a market researcher once pronounced, “that will get people to eat m ...

DORMANCY.

If some dormancy is showing,
things are alive but are not growing,
they are inactive or asleep
and, sometimes, that sleep can be deep.

This term is often used when plants
are in that phase, where they aren’t
growing, yet they’re still alive
so, when the time’s right, they will thrive.

Dormancy is when things are resting,
which makes the subject interesting
when it’s u ...

SAMMY THE SNAIL WAS HAVING a bad day. Some crazed French chef was looking for him to turn him into escargot in garlic butter sauce. He wasn’t fast but he was crafty and he slithered through the brush until he got to a small pond. If I can cross this pond, Sammy figured, I’ll be safe. There was a turtle resting upon a rock at the water’s edge, so Sammy approached him. Neither the sna ...

I USED TO LAUGH AT Milton Berle. Now I find that sort of canned humor unfunny. I was much younger then, and less sophisticated about comedy. Times change; we change. The comics that I find funniest today have penetrated taboos beyond what Berle or Benny or Burns could have done. It is rougher, more down to earth, more realistic. It is George Carlin, Joan Rivers, and Richard Pryor. It is ...

Hey folks,

I had my ileostomy surgery July 17th of this year and am still figuring out which products work for me. I was using Coloplast for the first 2 months and then had a delayed skin reaction...skin around the stoma (mainly where the barrier ring was) falling apart, so I've switched to Hollister but I much prefer the coloplast bags. Does anyone here combine products? I'm thinking of try ...

DOLMEN.()

I ought to say right from the start
they could be tombs or could be art,
for they were built so long ago
that nobody would really know.

Massive flat stones on pillars would
be impressive and look good
in days when things were done by hand
and people worked upon the land.

Of course, some might have been tombstones
to shelter some decaying bones,
but others might be built for f ...

Since I've got a lot of free time at work now, I watch my favorite music videos on my personal jukebox smartphone.

Start out with my all time favorite....

"Once Bitten, twice shy" by Great White. I've listened to it over a hundred times. Never gets old.

Then it's the Rolling Stones. "Shattered" from the amazing "Some Girls" album from.... HELLO! ....1978. I'm bouncing in my s ...

YOU’RE NEVER TOO OLD TO LEARN, although sometimes we encounter people who belie this simple maxim. One can take up a sport, golf for instance, after retirement, and master it sufficiently to not be a total embarrassment on the links. There are how-to books galore about hundreds of subjects that can be an entry into innumerable activities, some wasteful, some rewarding. But you have to be ...

Consulted with Google this a.m. in an effort to better understand terms/words such as “sine die” adjournment relating to Congress. My confusion led to more research and as usual I digressed. This ended with a good chuckle which is the BEST way to start a day ! I recalled an old video (2017) of “Uncle Jay”. So, if you need a chuckle this morning I encourage you to view it. You may ...

How far are you willing to travel for dates and would you be willing to move to be with your love interest?

I had what was supposed to be 2 hour surgery, but it took 10 hours due to my heart. I then spent 2 months in ICU with a combination of delirium, heart problems and infections. I’m now home, have been for 2 months and my memory and physical strength are coming back, and it is bliss! One thing that I don’t know if anyone else has experienced is the brilliant impact on gut infection, I was in ...

Hi
I’m Sammi new to this page I’m looking for friendships as I’ve been quite isolated
I have been an ostomate for 11 years permanent colostomy
looking forward to getting to know you all

DOORBELLS.

When thinking of a doorbell, I
will very often wonder why
I have this thing stuck on my door
and by so doing, what’s in store?

Is the doorbell useful, and
who might own the pressing hand?
There are too many people who
ring it, when I don’t want them to.

Does my doorbell have a curse?
Could the ringing get much worse?
Do I need to suffer thus?
Or, should I simply cuss or f ...

AS I APPROACHED THE CORNER of 2nd and Fancy, I heard someone’s voice. It turned out to me some guy talking to himself. I realized that it was TV host Phil Donahue. “I thought you were dead,” I told him. “Why would you think that,” he countered. “Have my ratings dropped?” “Not that I know of,” I replied. “You’re still the King of Daytime Talk.” He gave me a dubio ...

Hi All , I was sitting here thinking how many of us are really be honest on this site?? Are we saying who we really are, what about our pictures are they from now or older then saying just wondering?? I think on a site like this we all should be as honest as possible because we’re all looking for maybe that someone special or a real good friends remember alot of us just can’t go on other s ...

Post a picture of your pup(s). I know we've had a few dog posts but really can you ever look at too many puppy/dog pictures? I think not.

A FEW MORNINGS AGO I had something happen to me that I had just seen in a book. I read Kurt Vonnegut’s ‘A Man Without a Country’ and came across this counsel: “I urge you to please notice when you are happy, and exclaim or murmur or think at some point, ‘If this isn’t nice, I don’t know what is.’” I had just begun my morning walk and I realized how good I felt. No noticea ...

Actual exchanges between pilots and control towers
Tower: 'Delta 351, you have traffic at 10 o'clock, 6 miles!'
Delta 351: 'Give us another hint! We have digital watches!'
***************************************************

Tower: 'TWA 2341, for noise abatement turn right 45 Degrees.'
TWA 2341: 'Center, we are at 35,000 feet. How much noise can we make up here?'
Tower: 'S ...

Robin Williams interview with Michael Parkinson - in the first part around the 4 minute mark there is a hilarious bit about using a bag as a weapon!

https://youtu.be/4LaJDOD5cJI?si=xWcuzvBgR3sh4Q2J

Hi, I am a relatively new ostomate and have a urostomy and a colostomy. I hope I will be able to connect with other ostomates who will share their stories . I need all the help I can get!

A redneck with a bucket full of live fish was approached recently by a game warden in Central Mississippi as he started to drive his boat away from a lake. The game warden asked the man, "May I see your fishing license please?" "Naw, sir," replied the redneck. "I don't need none of dem dere papers. These here are my pet fish." "Pet fish??" "Yep. Once a week, I bring these here fish o'min ...

DOODLING.

It’s got to be the oddest thing
that is now known as doodling,
where someone will simply draw
without much thought as to what for.

They’ll scribble on a page or pad
or dribble ink on what they had
just readily available
with reasons unexplainable.

Sometimes the mind just drifts away
or there is nothing left to say
and yet the hands still work and so
a sort of drawing starts ...

Today I went for a walk on a trail in Funks Grave. It was lovely. I find nature very healing, even though I don't like bugs. I love the woods and sun shine and cute little squirels that are not digging holds in my yard. I had hoped to see a deer but there was none to be found. No rabbits either. Anyone else a nature lover? I expended some energy out there too. I walked about 3 miles on uneven ...

EVERYONE’S TASTE IN ART is individualistic. It goes beyond whether one likes a still life vs. a landscape, a portrait vs. something non-representational. Many particular artists become associated with the kind of painting that they produce. It’s like the story about the fellow who went to a plastic surgeon’s office to talk about the possibility of getting a nose job but, when ...

Hey there everyone!
Super bowl is this Sunday. And for the first time in a while, I'll be able to enjoy some of the foods. I do hope that others are able to enjoy the food and game this Sunday. Have a great week and weekend stay safe.

Homo sapiens are not the only ones consuming alcohol. Evidence shows that alcohol occurs in nearly every ecosystem on earth. Animals that feast on sugary fruits and nectar regularly imbibe the intoxicating substance. Ethanol is quite abundant in the natural world. Wild chimpanzees in Guines were caught on camera bingeing on the alcoholic sap of raffia palms. Tales of inebriated animals abound, ...

I just added my story in a nutshell to my profile. Thank you for taking the time to read.

Ummmm Hi.

I just signed up praying this website fits like a glove. I'm a brand new colostomy patient as of 09/25/24. I'm confused, exhausted, somewhat uninformed about both pre-op & post-op issues and aggravated to no end. There's much more to the story but that is all I'm sharing at the moment. Have a great night/day.

IT'S BEEN A LONG TIME since I had a piece of pie. I’m at a loss to understand how this unforgivable hiatus in my diet should have occurred. In recent weeks, there have been occasions when I found myself in a grocery market with a bakery, but somehow my hands never latched onto a pie. I picked up cookies, doughnuts, and various other wonderful bad things for me, but somehow neglected to fi ...

I’M SURROUNDED BY MATH PEOPLE. My family members include a college math professor, a high school math teacher, an IRS agent, and a company CFO (Chief Financial Officer). As for me, anything vaguely mathematical, even old-timey arithmetic, turns me and my brain off completely. My cognitive ability favors letters, not numbers. I agree with Fran Lebowitz who opined that, in real life, “th ...

Amazingly, In Japan you can rent people for uses beyond sex-professional guests, for instance, and whole rental families. Shoji Morimoto for a small fee will be there for you but do nothing. His memoir 'Rental Person Who Does Nothing' explains: " In one of Aesop's fables, a character longs to tell a secret and so tells it to the reeds. I'm just there, like those reeds." His jobs are simple lik ...

GERMAN FASHION DESIGNER Karl Lagerfeld once opined that wearing sweatpants was a sign of defeat. “You lost control of your life,” he sniffed, “so you bought some sweatpants.” Oh, what does he know, anyway? I wear sweatpants all the time. In fact, I have two pair: one for around the house, one for going out. You might say I have both formal and informal sweatpants. It’s like wh ...

Hope you all get full bags….of candy.

Hello everyone. My name is Mattie. I live in Tasmania, which is the island state of Australia. (Often referred to as “under down under”). I’ve had my ileostomy for 20 years, and am eternally grateful to the very skilled and dedicated doctor who spent 13 hours and 40 minutes operating on me to save my life. I spent 4 months in hospital, and had to learn to walk again. In common with a ...

I DON’T HAVE TIME to count the three-day weekends on the calendar. Not that I’m complaining, it’s just that, as a retiree, I’m indifferent. But I’m still happy for people who look forward to these extended breaks in their week of work. These are significant time outs from a sometime hectic schedule. As the great George Carlin once pointed out, even God benefits from this calendar ...

Four months ago, after thinking I had food poisoning, proceeded to get on a cruise ship to celebrate my 50th wedding anniversary. I had. an absess due to diriticulitois, resulting in emergency surgery and woke up with a large, deep wound in my stomach and stoma. i’m told it can be reversed but still in somewhat of a shock. My stoma’s name is ET and so far we are friends. I have my mom ...

Hi,
I have been on this site for many years now and it seems like whenever someone looks at my profile, they are never the first ones to contact me, I always seem to be the first one to do the contacting. Kind of strange. Just something I have noticed.

Hi
I’m Ali. Today I had my first appointment with my stoma nurse. It all went well and I’m excited about getting a colostomy.
It’s been a tough 4 years so the stoma will change my life for the better. I have a rectovaginal fistula so fingers crossed the stoma will solve the issue as my next surgical option sounds pretty horrendous.
This is a picture of me trying to look as excited as t ...

HOW CAN YOU NOT FALL IN LOVE with this cow. There she is, staring at you with those trusting eyes. She is a beautiful specimen of a species that doesn’t get the respect it deserves. People often drive past cows in the field without even realizing what special creatures they are. They get less respect than Rodney Dangerfield. Even celebrities, who ought to know better, make fun of them ...

Hi Folks!

Have just created my account this evening.
I look forward to meeting new friends.

MY DAUGHTER IS ABOUT TO PAY for her sins. My granddaughter is turning thirteen and entering that zone of existence known in the vernacular as being a teenager. When my two daughters hit puberty, I considered drugging myself into a zombie state. “You can wake me up when it’s over,” I told my wife. Notwithstanding that we had raised them well, I lived in constant fear that they might g ...

THERE ARE TWO TYPES of people that I don’t trust. The first are those without a sense of humor. The second are those with clean desks. They are often the same people, as it turns out. No sense of humor connotes a deprived upbringing with possibly a surfeit of either religion or rooting for a habitually losing sports team. Clean desks indicate someone who’s not in touch with reality, f ...