Going back as far as I can remember I always wanted to travel the world, there wasn’t a continent not on my dreams list. As a family we never stayed put in one place for long, first living in an old bus that had been fitted out travelling around Australia getting home-schooled before settling down if you could call it that, moving house every six months to two years until I was old enough to take flight and step out on my own. At 19 I left my rental property, my boyfriend of three years, my job and my family with $50 AUD in my purse, a back pack and a sense of adventure, from that moment I was hooked on travel. I returned just over six months later to finish my accounting and finance degree with the knowledge that I could use those skills, making the world my oyster.
Fast Forward
Four years later I finally finished my double degree, I had secured a great job that had started part-time six months earlier. I had negotiated three months off upon completion of my degree, so I could travel with a university friend. We had a fantastic time backpacking, hiking, partying and drinking our way through Thailand visiting Laos and Myanmar and stopping in Singapore before heading home to begin full-time work while I completed my Chartered Practicing Accountant qualifications (CPA), another three year qualification they don't tell you about before you begin.
The Dream
Next step was to venture out into the world utilising all these skills I had obtained over the last 26 years of my life. I was always good with children already spending six months in the UK working as a nanny. So I lined up a job in a US summer camp before heading to Canada to work in the snow fields. From there I was going to head back to the UK and Europe to use my accounting skills to build up some cash for more extravagant adventures. Where I would meet some exotic foreigner, fall in love, get engaged and fly home all before I’m thirty to be married in Australia and start a family. This had been my dream since I was a child, ways of completing it varied, as did minor details but the main theme stayed the same.
Best Laid Plans
I had been recently diagnosed with ulcerative colitis but had broken up from my turbulent relationship which I truly believed to be the flare trigger and felt OK on my high volumes of multiple medications and then I wasn't. Within a month I lost 20kg (44lb), spending the next month in hospital trying to save my bowel before losing the battle and waking with a temporary stoma (Squishy). My dreams had been stolen and I was living in a nightmare of sickness and pain. This had not been the saving grace I had been promised and I was forced to put my adventures on hold. Over the coming three years I endured another eleven surgeries and three stomas, the final one permanent, I lost all my travel deposits and my jobs got given to other willing participants. The month of my final surgery was the same month I turned thirty and all my travel adventures had been swapped for hospital beds.
Ripped Off
I felt totally ripped off, I had planned everything, I had just finished seven years of study, working the whole time so I could save for the trip of a lifetime, all for it to get stolen by my unstable confused colon. Mentally I felt lost, the first two years spent in pain after getting an ostomy was the worst, and I went to some really dark places that I wouldn't wish on anyone, but sadly know that many of us have journeyed too. Getting past this took a good psychologist, medication, and support, without which I wouldn't be here to share my story with you today.
Going Permanent
Meeting my husband truly was my saving grace and although another reversal and rejigged j-pouch was possible the chances of success due to my circumstances were low as was the availability of remaining small intestine and he loved me bag and all, so together we chose quality of life. He proposed the year after and we married in Thailand. Maintaining my love of travel, we venture out yearly, not backpacking as I had envisioned but in hotels and on cruises and will continue to do so as long as we find joy in it. Going permanent also let me enjoy other things I was incapable of doing in the preceding years. It took a while to get dehydration under control and nutrient intake correct which aided in balancing my energy levels. There are still days when I tire and need timeout but overall I survive and I continue to thrive.
Volunteering
My world had been turned inside out and after I figured out I wasn't alone in this I felt most at home with others that had faced challenges similar to mine so I started volunteering at our local ostomy association before heading back to work full-time. It helped me gain some confidence I had lost and also to see how others handled having a potentially misbehaving stoma. I also believed that I would be able to pick the ostomates from the non-ostomates, an impossible task without asking the simple question, do you have an ostomy or inappropriately lifting up their shirt. Years later when the opportunity arose I joined the management committee. My main focus to start sustainable support groups focusing on youth and from this to introduce youth into the association volunteer pool opening the association on Saturdays once a month to give them the opportunity to give back and work alongside other ostomates.
Blogging
I always wanted to start a blog or something similar since I fell ill but was a C grade English student and didn't believe I had anything of value to share until I won the Great Comebacks Award after submitting my story to Convetec a few days before the due date. I finally had enough faith in myself to fully accept my circumstances and hoped by sharing my story with the world through my blog and social media accounts, I can give others hope that life with an ostomy, like anything, is what you make of it. I exercise, I socialise, I travel, I work, I can ride a bike, I drink if the occasion warrants it, and I am a productive part of society.
I must be doing something right as I just won Rookie of the Year in the 6th WEGO Health Awards, a huge surprise. This saw my husband and I travel to the US to collect the award and interact with amazing health advocates from all walks of life, an experience I will not soon forget. So like I said not only am I surviving I'm thriving and I look forward to the future ahead, one that could not have existed without my ostomy.
