Ok, I have been there done that....the day after my 50th Birthday I had an emergency colostomy, due to a perforated bowel....who knew I have diverticulosis??? Guess I was the
last to know, it certainly explained why I felt like crap most of my life.....yes, I was traumatized by the bag, especially since that year, I had joined a gym, lost 40#, ate healthy
nuts, grains, lots of fiber, popcorn, tomatoes........all that contributed to my problem....
anyway, I mourned, I cried, I met wonderful people on this site, I got over it......
After all, it was wear a bag or die....which was worse.......
suddenly I felt better than I ever could remember feeling, people told me I glowed
.....I had energy, I wasn't as bloated miserable as I had been, since I watched everything I ate.....every day was a gift, I enjoyed my life as I never had before, I had a second chance........6 months go by my surgeon talks about a reversal.......did I want one knowing I could perforate again? Part of me didn't, my friends on this site who can not get a reversal, told me to go for it........they said they would jump at the chance to be normal again, I told them normal is over-rated, I love them the way they are, they gave me a reason to go on every day, they were my life line......so I went for it.........
I could not eat for a week before the reversal, just Gatorade, clear soup......I got an infection while I was still in the hospital, I was there for 1 week..........(.4 weeks later, I was back walking 3 miles a day )..........I was cut further down higher than the first cut, he did cut me in the same spot......I found out now ( 3 years later) that I shouldn't have been cut in the first scar......plus where the stoma was, I have a pucker, my left side is still puffed out.......as careful as I was, not to lift 50# of sunflower seeds for my bird friends, I still managed to get multiple hernias..........I felt them when I had a bad cough about a year after the reversal.....my doctor said it was probably scar tissue tearing, and I believed him, I wanted to....even though my gut feeling knew it was something else........
I am still careful of what I eat, my friends tell my what high maintenance I am since, I can't eat seeds, beans, nuts, corn etc......breakfast is my favorite meal to eat out, since all I have to worry about is seeds on the bread....
2 months ago I had a CT then a colonoscopy to make sure they don't have to repair anything before they repair the hernias..... now I am scheduled for hernia surgery
in 3 weeks from today.........and will this be the last surgery I have? will the mesh work or will more hernias appear, will I perforate again? Who knows...I do know 1 of the hernias is bigger than my boob and it hurts, I have to lay down put a waist cincher on it so that I can go to work...and I work at a hospital, I am bending moving patients all day, yes I know, thats aggravating my condition, all I can do is hope that surgery will fix me......