About seven miles or so west of Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah, there is a magnificent trail that I have had the good fortune to have followed on more than one occasion. It proceeds from a wide stand of juniper, cottonwood, and mahogany-barked manzanita, up into a wonderland of towering and oddly shaped sandstone hoodoos in arid, wide-open, desert-like surroundings. It is a climb, cresting, as I recall, at 7,400 feet. When I would hike, I always carried, among other things, a pocket-sized packet of tissue to use when ostomy attention was necessary. On one particular occasion, I was attending to exactly that, just off the trail beside a gnarled old juniper, where I had kicked out with the heal of my boot a small receptacle hole in the sand. Having committed myself to this task and being, consequently, unable to physically move from the spot until I had finished, I suddenly heard a startling sound: a quite recognizable rattle, just five feet away under a stunted sagebrush. A rather large rattlesnake was noisily objecting to my presence. Both of us being equally leery of each other, we remained in place, while I hurriedly completed my emptying activity, and then backed carefully away down upon the trail. He rattled warily a little more, and I made off toward my goal, relieved in more ways than one.

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Hollister
Talking about having an ostomy can be uncomfortable for most people. Still, it's something you can't always avoid.
Learn about some strategies that can make it easier to talk about your stoma.
Learn about some strategies that can make it easier to talk about your stoma.
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Hollister
We conducted a survey to better understand the impact that living with an ostomy has on sleep.
Learn the results of our ostomy sleep survey.
Learn the results of our ostomy sleep survey.