Ostomy Memories of an Ostomy

MOST PEOPLE GO THROUGH LIFE dreading that something bad will happen to them.  You and I have had our trauma, and that belly attachment that we wear won’t ever allow us to forget it.  We deal with it, since we have no choice.  We do battle with the shock of it at first, some kind of foreign creature that has fastened upon us like a barnacle on a turtle’s shell.  It may have saved our life, but it did so in a rude, abrasive way, leaving us to figure out an unfamiliar new way of life, something so unthinkable, even unimaginable, that it can take a long number of months for recovery to set us on an even keel again.  We bring all our available strength to bear on regaining some sense of normality, to rejoining the human race that, at first, we were afraid that we’d left.  We develop a technique, two techniques, actually:  one, the physical necessity of tending to our new need; the other, the psychological machinations we go through to insure survival with some acceptable level of dignity.  Finally, we arrive at that point where we become acceptable to the one observer who most needs that acceptance:  ourselves.  Then we realize that we’re going to be okay, that the creature has been tamed, put on a leash, domesticated.  The trauma has been overcome, mundane needs reassert themselves, routine regains its rightful place.  Life goes on.

All very true, Henry, life does go on, but there is not one person on this site who would have a "belly attachment" if they had a choice.🤔

"Finally, we arrive at that point where we become acceptable to the one observer who most needs that acceptance:

ourselves."

Frankly, I have not come to that point as yet and doubt I have enough years left on this planet to reach that point, but yes, we must 🎶"carry on my wayward son"🎶 - as is typical with me, I end up singing songs in my head and sometimes even out loud when my son-in-law is around as he always says, "STOP SINGING!"... This ALWAYS makes me feel better - not the stop singing comment, but the songs! jb

Of all your posts, Henry, I appreciate this one. I am not at the point and do not believe I ever will be. Your words are making me think, however. I hope I can get to a point I accept. Thank you for writing this.