Day 12 post-operative. Remember that old '60s song, "Feelin' Groovy"? Well, I've rewritten it to suit me today, and it's now called "Feelin' Grumpy"! I had to be up early in case the District Nurse decided to call at the crack of dawn, but of course, she didn't turn up until after lunch. She's very nice though, the same one who came to do my stitches when I had the op on my back three years ago - just as well she is nice because I wasn't in the mood for anything less than a perfect bedside manner. No bother with the clips coming out, it stung a bit, but it didn't even flicker on my pain Richter Scale, not after what I went through before the surgery.
The soreness is no better around the stoma, but then I wouldn't expect it to be after just one day of ditching the wipes. Had two leaks, one with hardly anything in it and the other with a fairly full bag. I don't know what that was all about; I hadn't done anything different as far as I was aware, but obviously, my aim must have been a bit off. My stoma nurse is coming tomorrow, so I'll see what pearls of wisdom she has to dispense. The Imodium tablets I've been taking on her recommendation to try and firm things up haven't worked at all, and I live in dread of it being like this when our holiday rolls around on January 31st. I have horror scenarios of being trapped on a plane in a massive queue for the toilet, cue the music from Jaws, my bag blowing up like a spacehopper and going 'Bang!' at 50,000 ft, showering everyone with the fragrant contents of what's left of my large bowel.
Oh well, at least I shall be carrying my deeply unglamorous supplies on board in style, having ordered a lovely floral carrybag from the Cath Kidston sale yesterday. I decided that the butch, blue nylon freebie job from the stoma company didn't quite cut the mustard... shallow in the scheme of things I know, but hey.
Right, Emmerdale, EastEnders, and Coronation Street, then bed... the first episode of the new series of Shameless will have to wait for me to watch it on catch-up tomorrow - I'm knackered.

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Talking about having an ostomy can be uncomfortable for most people. Still, it's something you can't always avoid.
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Learn about some strategies that can make it easier to talk about your stoma.
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We sat down with two influential people in the ostomy community, to find out how they cope during challenging times.
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Read what they had to say.