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Having a receptacle
attached to your body is a weird and unique experience; one I’d rather
have forgone, but ultimately am glad I had access to when I needed it.
Without the appliance
(pouch) a person might have to continue with disabilities such as severe
incontinence, bowel diseases like mine, diverticulitis with dangerous
leakage resulting in peritonitis.
The people who sport a
colostomy bag are a courageous bunch, but ask most of us and we’ll tell
you that life with this inconvenience is a minor price for what we faced.
Crohn’s Disease, IBS, Diverticulitis, cancer, and other diseases
can result in bowel surgery with a rerouting of the colon to an opening in
the belly. The colon end is
called a stoma and this opening is the bowel without a rectum or sphincter
muscle, so the body eliminates as needed.
A person with a colostomy has no control and doesn’t need any,
much like a catheterized patient.
Some people have
permanent colostomies and some of us await reversals.
Surgeons will use a temporary colostomy in an effort to allow the
bowel to heal after perforations and ruptures, painful attacks and
surgeries. Reversals are
generally successful and welcomed by the patient.
If you’re faced with
the prospect of a colostomy, fear not.
You’ll survive, probably quite courageously, with a different
routine in life, but nonetheless, life.
It’s a solution to a problem, not a torture to make your life
miserable. It’s a way to
keep your body’s functions healthy, rather than with continued pain and
deterioration of the bowel.
Do as much research as
you can on your own. Be your
own best health advisor. Get
to know your condition and what the colostomy is all about. Learn all you
can. Be ready for this change in your life.
Don’t see it as a negative, but rather, see it as a procedure
that saved your life. See it for the miracle that it is.
A century ago, if someone developed bowel disease, they suffered a
long time, eventually dying from complications…a very painful death.
Today we may face life
with a colostomy, but these days, the appliances are ultra modern, ultra
manageable, and ultra discrete. Easy
to use, easy to manage, they become as much a part of our hygiene routine
as brushing our teeth.
Once the incision is
healed and you’re feeling like your old self might be peeking through,
you will begin to realize that, although it may appear an inconvenience,
in reality, we humans have an amazing capacity for adjustment.
You
will adjust, you will thrive and life will be good.
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About The Author
JL
Davis has been writing for over 35 years and is published in
many formats including in-print books, print articles, online publications
and poetry and erotica collections. Her writing covers a wide
variety of topics.
Category: bowels,
colon disease, colostomy
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The
articles presented on this website are in no way intended as to portray
anything
but the individual