I originally started to formulate ideas for this post last weekend when I was feeling pretty low. I had been discharged from hospital and was the reality of everything was hitting home. There were so many things going through my mind that were being amplified by feeling unwell. I was going to compose the post, which would have overall been very negative, but instead I decided to take a step back, wait and try to turn the negatives into positives.
Read moreFollow Up Visit With Stoma Nurse

Today was the first follow-up visit to the stoma team. The aim of the visit is to check everything is healing correctly, to check the size of the stoma, provide new supplies and it’s an opportunity to ask any questions.
Read moreIrritated Stoma

Upon changing my bag this morning I noticed the skin around the stoma was a little irritated. The irritation was around the circumference of the stoma and being new to the whole stoma game I’m wondering if it’s an irritation caused by the adhesive on the bag.
Read moreTwo Weeks With a Stoma

I’ve been home from hospital for three days and recovering is hard work, both physically and mentally. Like most people I’m so used to being active and mobile so curbing what I do is hard and at times I have to remind myself to slow down.
Read moreExpectations vs Reality

Today is release day for me and after 12 days in hospital (11 if excluding the night before) I thought I would reflect on what I was told would happen and what actually happened. As day-to-day care from nursing staff in hospitals can vary widely, I will keep it just to the surgery, how long I was in hospital for and aftercare from doctors, stoma nurses and physio.
Read moreA Week With A Stoma

I’ve now had the colostomy bag for over a week and I feel like we’re just getting acquainted with the new sensations, the new smells and the challenges it’s going to bring. Here’s what I’ve learned so far.
Read moreInfection Cured

It’s amazing what some hardcore antibiotics can do! Yesterday afternoon I was given a single dose of Gentamicin, aka the Domestos of antibiotics, and started on a course of Tazocin, aka the Dettol of antibiotics. In addition to these two I was still taking Metronidazole. My specialist clearly wanted to eliminate this infection as soon as possible.
Read moreSource of Infection Determined?

After waking up with a temperature of 39C and an early morning visit from the surgical registrar not really revealing anything new, I was just hoping that the antibiotics I was taking would fix things. He decided to adjust the approach and set me up with two different hardcore antibiotics — the type used for serious infections such as meningitis and pneumonia — which I would start to take later in the day.
Read moreGood News and Bad News
By now I should be at home recovering but I’m not, I’m still stuck in hospital.
Read morePoop Watch

I was so hopeful yesterday that things would start to kick into action and the log jam would start to clear but the day progressed and there was very little action. I knew that if things started to move I’d have a good chance of being discharged as soon as I saw a doctor.
Read more