What a journey the last 6 months have been! I had a proctocolectomy in December 2009 due to complications from Crohn's. My physical recovery went better than my perception of the recovery. I didn't like my new state of affairs and became quite depressed. About 3 weeks ago, I had to have surgery again for a kidney stone. Then it seems that almost overnight things "clicked" and I have been able to move on.
A week after the kidney stone surgery, my wife and I went on a cruise. Since my surgery, I had showered, but never bathed—never allowed my stoma underwater. On our cruise, I swam in the ocean, rode a zip line through the jungle canopy in Jamaica, swam with stingrays in the Caymans, ate exotic dinners, laid out in the sun, and walked miles! My activity level was almost up to anyone else's. Except for a few problems with adhesives breaking down with body perspiration, things went with few "issues."
My wife did a great job of helping me find clothes ahead of time that looked good and still covered the stoma. I controlled the output with simethicone, relaxed, and had a great time.
So, after the intermission, Act II has started out great!
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Wow!
I thought my weekend away was a good step, but gee whiz, you did great! Maybe my next time away might be more adventurous like you
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The good news is that you can avoid them with some small changes in your diet.
Super-Hero:
A zip line is a steel cable, in this case, high in the trees of the jungle. You put on a harness, helmet, and heavy gloves and attach yourself to the cable with a pulley and "off you go!" Fortunately, the harness sat right on top of my stoma, so it actually gave it more support. Our longest was about 1,100 feet, 250 feet above the jungle floor (creek) at speeds up to 35 mph.
But it is not what I did, it is that I did. No longer going to sit still in the recliner...
Ria:
Sounds like your weekend away was great. My point is to do something! We seem to all have had periods of depression after surgery. For me, it was the first time in my life I had truly been depressed, even through my 38-year battle with Crohn's. I wanted to post this to try to help folks realize there is hope. You can get on with life and do what you have always wanted to do! At the risk of sounding trite...Just Do It! Life is too short and too precious to sit around moping. Be with your loved ones and truly LIVE.
(For me, that means going to a dinner and play tonight, helping my wife clean house tomorrow, and, after church on Sunday, finishing a building project I started 3 years ago. I will get hot and sweaty, causing my barrier to release, but a shower and a change and a completed shed in the back!)
Words of Encouragement from Ostomy Advocates I Hollister
If you're afraid of heights, stay away. But it's a real good time. Imagine a canyon a thousand feet deep and a half mile across. You get on a rope that stretches across. It has a small wheel on the rope and you hang under the rope. About now, if you had a rectum, it would be getting tight. Then you just ride that rope down until it stops, or if there's a river, you just let go and let gravity take over. Have fun.
greg
It's all a case of following the immortal words of Daffy Duck as Robin Hood. "Yikes and away"!
Yes, I think that's the way things work - "click" and you're back on the road to recovery. I got really depressed over the holidays at the end of last year, starting with Thanksgiving (usually one of my favorites). Then I realized it was the 5-year anniversary of my former husband's remarriage. He left me after my cancer treatment, and never touched me again after a temporary colostomy was placed in 2003. Getting the permanent one in February 2009 seemed like no big deal at the time, but months later it hit me and I didn't want to get out of bed, even to take care of my dogs or do stuff with my son (he's 20). April was a dark month, beautiful sunny San Diego, but not for me. Exhausted, fatigued, uninterested - then I was hospitalized with a large GI bleed and found out I'd been anemic for a long time anyway.
That hospitalization renewed my gratitude for the good days and I got enough energy back to finish the school semester and would have graduated except for one class - missed the final - had to take an Incomplete. It didn't get me down, though. It "clicked" that living is better than graduating
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- and then I found this site, and it got even better!
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Ugh... I can imagine it! No way! I am much too wussy for that...
xx
I can imagine myself doing that, but rest assured it would take one hell of a kick in the ass to get me flying over those treetops. I watched people on TV doing this; even with an ileostomy, I know I'd somehow shit myself. Good story though, way to live life to the fullest. I could use one of those for getting up and down the stairs at home. Ed
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Bikerboy, now I can barely walk, but put me on one of those Harleys, yahooooo
But more likely, it would have to be Rachel's Harley.
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