The conference is 8 hours east of Calgary. I took my bike. It was a sunny but windy trip from every direction. I found I had gotten a little sun where my gloves and jacket did not meet. Friday was registration (about 100 attended, a few more on Saturday) and 3 speakers (Eric Polsinelli – Vegan Ostomy, Dr. Ryan Suri – General Surgeon, Sheryl Walker – Enterostomal Therapy Nurse) followed by wine and cheese. The speakers kept it lively along with a question and answer period.
Saturday started early at 8:30. Topics covered were chronic pain, peristomal skin complications, IBD, Angie Schickerowski – author of The Healing Compass, dietitian, and mental health. At the break, they brought out 8 muffins; the order was for 8 dozen. Someone ran out and brought a box of Timbits for each table to save the day. The conference was concluded with a nice buffet supper and entertainment by the Special Guest Zarqa Nawaz – creator of Little Mosque on the Prairie, a hit Canadian TV show.
I spent the next few days with family before heading back to Calgary. It was cool Wednesday morning, and I was freezing for the first couple of hours until it warmed up. As luck would have it, it started to lightly rain for the last 2 hours of the trip. Glad to be home.
If ever there is a conference in your area, I recommend you go.
I feel that so little is known about diagnosing someone with a combination of problems, including mental states, that osteomates will one day be seen as pioneers. We are how they are learning more about how it all works! Leach, anyone?
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Hi gang,
I was thinking what a great resource this site has been for me since I found it. It would have been really helpful, but maybe a bit scary, to have found it before my ostomy, but that's water under the bridge. But I got thinking about it, and now I'm questioning why doctors and hospitals don't provide this site's contact info to any patient even considering an ostomy today. And how can we change that so potential ostomates can learn about the road ahead for them by getting on here and asking questions before the docs go chop-chop. How exactly do you get all hospitals to provide their patients specific information, like this website?
I just happened to find this site something like 4 years after my ostomy when I Googled "ostomy forum" or something like that. But I never found it during previous searches.....so I found this site pretty much by pure luck. We need to find a way to make this site available to new or soon-to-be ostomates......as that's when we really need to commiserate with fellow ostomates. Anybody have any thoughts on how we do this?
Thanks,
Bob
Best wishes
Bill
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