Travel Ostomy Style

Holidays!

Travel has always been a huge thing for me, I love visiting new places, meeting new people and getting a sense of new cultures. My husband has said on more than one occasion we would be rich if I could just curb my passion for travel but where’s the fun in being rich if you couldn’t enjoy it. Pre ostomy I had spent six months in the UK working and partying and three months in Thailand backpacking and again partying. I had planned to travel until I was thirty and then settle down with the man of my dreams and start a family. Unfortunately, my body had other ideas and I spent my mid to late twenties in and out of hospitals enduring twelve surgeries which ended with permanent ileostomy bag just before my thirtieth birthday.

No. 6: Things I wish I knew back then…

Ostomy Appliances Available

Ostomy Appliances

When you first wake up from stomal surgery you will generally wake up to a clear bag with a swollen red bud (your stoma). If you're anything like me this vision scared and even disgusted me, the anxiety of having the bag was bad enough let alone one that hung what felt like half way down my thigh and was transparent for the world to see. Some ostomates have had a pre op appointment with the stoma nurse and are hopefully aware that there are many types and options available.

No. 2: Things I wish I knew back then…

Filter labels

Stickers AKA Filter Labels

As part of writing the piece on ostomy support, I joined a few of the groups I researched and one of the most common questions that I saw on my feed from a variety of those groups was what are the sheet of stickers that comes in the box with the bags? As I sit here I really can’t remember what my first thoughts were when I unpacked that first pack of ostomy supplies and saw those stickers but I’m sure it was something like the masses, what are they for and how do I use them.