The disappearing ink of my memory started fading some time ago. My pre-ostomy time is almost entirely gone. I was 21 when they did the surgery; I am 77 now. What it was like to be a person without this thing attached to my belly, I cannot recall. It is as lost as a spare coin. When you go back fifty years in your mind, rivers become tributaries, tributaries become trickles. That hard-working hippocampus, whose job it is to send out memories to the appropriate part of the cerebral hemisphere for long-term storage and then to retrieve them when necessary, has carelessly let his union card lapse. That is when that mischievous scamp imagination enters the picture. He will mess with your mind; he will cause you to wonder where that wavering, phantasmagoric line is between reality and fantasy. That bully ego begins to hang around too, bolstering, embroidering, exaggerating. Memory, after a long, long ride through time, develops carbuncles. Do you want to know what wonder is? Wonder is that startling, unsettling notion that occurs to you, long afterwards: Did I really do that?

First off, this is a pretty cool site with 39,943 members.
But, it's not all about ostomy. We talk about everything.
Many come here for advice, others find lasting friendships, and some have even found love.
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Hollister
Your ostomy doesn't have to keep you from enjoying food.
Follow our simple and practical guidelines for eating healthy with an ostomy.
Follow our simple and practical guidelines for eating healthy with an ostomy.
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Hollister
The quality of your life is impacted by your daily routine. Developing a healthy eating style can ensure a fast recovery from ostomy surgery, and continued health.
Follow our tips to help keep you on track
Follow our tips to help keep you on track