It's a beautiful summer's day today. We are going to have another hot day. So I need to make sure that I drink enough as I haven't been so dehydrated that my brain scrambles completely, and as my husband says, I become like a 2-year-old - for three years now. I'm not able to tell when I begin to get dehydrated, as I just become extremely sleepy, and I used to drink so much water that my ileostomy would kick it out as fast as it could, also taking my proper sodium/potassium ratio with it.
Fortunately, after 30 years of marriage, my full-time caregiver husband can tell by my speech if I need to start drinking my electrolytes - which I will do straight away. Having no IV access is a pain in the neck, and having IV fluid put in through a sub-cut line in my abdomen is slow and it takes a long time for me to become "me" again....
I am having a lot of pain. I'm on palliative pain medication, and since I'm a Dutch Kiwi, I'm stubborn, as I want to keep my pain meds as low as I can possibly get it without having to deal with breakthrough pain. But hubby talks sense into me and tells me that I need to take extra pain relief when my pain gets out of control. (Don't worry - I do not have a bowel obstruction ;-) ).
I am going to take it easy. Read for a while.
I hope you are all doing relatively well!
GB
A hot day, hey! It's really chilly in the UK at the moment, with a storm coming across the country.
Hope your hydration is balanced and reading is good - one can become immersed for a while.
Kind thoughts,
BW
J
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This site is a godsend. As a newbie (colostomy on Nov 8, '21), I look at it every day for a number of reasons. Reading what people are going through makes me grateful that my elective surgery because of a severe case of IBS-C is nothing compared to what they have been through and are still living with.
I don't have to go to the hospital for anything related to my ostomy. I feel sorry for those who do and am in awe of those who can use humor to describe their ordeal. I identify with those who express their fears. I especially identify with those who are depressed because I am clinically depressed and have general anxiety disorder. How ironic that having a colostomy eliminated some of the depression and anxiety that the IBS created. I've been widowed twice and I'm on match.com.
I immediately included my operation in my profile and am pleased to say it doesn't seem to make a difference.
And there is much humor on this site and it's one of the reasons I enjoy it so much.
I could name numerous things I've learned from reading people's comments/questions/answers.
After months following on a daily basis, my only negative comment is I don't like listing the most popular members.
It's not that I don't like these people; I do. It's that I think it elicits some "Facebook"-like banter or comments that are gratuitous.
I don't do any social media and think that its merits are overshadowed by too much negativity.
Meetanostomate is in no way negative. I just think the gallery of "popularity" detracts from what is an excellent website that deals with a serious issue that causes a myriad of emotions.
It was 6F (-14C) this afternoon when my husband was driving me to the doctor's. I would love to trade some of my cold with some of your heat. 🤣
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Hi Gracie:
It has been -33°C here the last two mornings. Today it warmed up to -12, then it snowed. I get what you mean about pain meds. I have an aversion to them as well. In fact at the moment I am taking none at all. My daughter, who is a physician tells me to take the meds before I really start to hurt. It is a lot harder to break through the pain after it has started. I have several half full/empty water bottles scattered around the house it an attempt to remind myself to stay hydrated. It sounds weird, but so far it has worked.
Words of Encouragement from Ostomy Advocates I Hollister
Thanks, Jayne,
Yes, my brother in the Netherlands told me how cold it was, and although the weather hasn't gone below zero, they are getting lots of rain, and he says the weather is pretty miserable. My husband's sister and family live very close to my brother, and I wish I could see them. But I am not allowed to fly.
If only Stargates existed in real life! Then we could have one in our 2-acre garden, and my sister-in-law could have one in her garden, and we'd be able to just walk through and visit for a few hours!
Grace
Brrrr..... In the winter, we very rarely get frost lower than -5°C (which is 25°F), and that's only at night occasionally. We don't get any snow (how I miss snow from my childhood in the Netherlands).
I will absolutely love it when my husband finally puts up our swimming pool! It would be such bliss to cool down!
:-)
I remember that when we went to visit family in the Netherlands in 1997/1998 over the Christmas / New year holidays that the entire time it was -20 and snowing the entire time. Walking on the foot path was a challenge! And my ears were freezing. My mother-in-law didn't approve of my New Zealand made winter jacket, and took me shopping for a "real" winter jacket!!
We loved it for about the first 4 days and then we both started feeling terribly homesick for New Zealand!
My problem with my pain medication is that it's so sedating. I was sleeping 20 hours a day, and my doctors started to worry that I was dying.....
None of the medications I was given were working, as most tablets, especially slow acting medications, are designed for people who have a large bowel. Having only 3.5 meters of small bowel I'd find my medication floating in the toilet, completely intact and undigested....
Prescription medicinal cannabis became legal in New Zealand on April 1, 2020, and a little over a year ago my GP suggested we give it a go.
It changed my life completely. The only thing is that it comes in oil drops, and it isn't funded, but my husband makes sure to budget for it, as it's made such a huge difference for me. He only complains now that I suffer from verbal diarrhea - to which my doctor tells him "sorry but there's no cure for that!"
LOL