Self Image and the Ostomate
As warm weather enters our days, those of us with an ostomy know the importance of staying cool and hydrated. I love the ease of the season, but recognize the practicality of planning an attractive and easy to coordinate wardrobe. As the seasons progress, I will help you to put together garments in your closet in different ways, so start with me now, and your fashion IQ will certainly improve!
I treasure the story of how I met my darling husband! We were not much older than children…I was at the precipice of becoming a young lady, just weeks before my 15th birthday, while Bruce had just turned 16. We met at a youth organization dance, and he walked across the room to ask me to dance. Later, he would confess he had never approached a girl he didn’t know to dance. When I returned home that night, so many years ago, I told my mother, Lillian, about him.
Over two and a half years ago, after 22 abdominal surgeries and countless bowel obstructions, my surgeon and I took a big step…a surgery that resulted in the formation of an ileostomy. Many of you have never heard of this procedure, and so I would like to educate you a bit. There are three types of ostomies or stomas, which divert either stool (a colostomy or ileostomy) or urine (an urostomy) from the organs nature gave us to do so. Without getting too complicated, an ileostomy is created to enable stool from the small intestine, which is the squiggly organ housed within the abdomen, to leave the body into a “bag” or a pouch that adheres to an appliance secured on the belly.