I got diagnosed with a very tiny spot of cancer in my low colon in early March. Had surgery two weeks later. I begged the doctors, "No bag, please!! I can't deal with it. I already have enough on my shoulders without the headaches of a total life change, so to speak." They said they will do their best, no promises or guarantee not to get one. I prayed so hard for days for God to not let me have one, but after ten and a half hours of surgery, I found myself with a colostomy. I was so upset. Well, several days later, I had to go back into surgery and come out with an ileostomy! That's the one that's in use now. My colostomy just has gauze and tape over it. My ileostomy has been a total nightmare!! It leaked from day one. My skin was so red, raw, blistered, seeping, bleeding. It hurt so bad. My doctor had to "sew" things on my stoma to keep the poo off my skin to heal it four times, and yes, it hurt badly!! Nothing worked. I finally had my stoma moved two weeks ago. Kind of in a bad place... It's above my belly button about three or four inches to the left. My stomach empties out too fast, and I'm hungry a lot. I eat a lot but have lost a ton of weight the three months I was in the hospital. I came home a week ago Friday and got put back in the hospital this past Monday for two days and lost another 12 pounds. Has anyone else had this experience? Sheesh, losing like that, I'll be gone in a few more months. My bag is very active and has to be emptied every hour or so and mainly watery. I've tried eating binding foods and use stuff like Imodium, etc. Had that all in the hospital for months...no help. The last few months have been emotional for me...wondering how I'm going to deal with all this...and to even think of having a relationship with a man is unimaginable. Trying to be close or intimate with a guy and have the embarrassment of my bag flopping around or leaking... How does everyone else deal with these issues? I don't want to be alone the rest of my life, but I may be doing so...

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We conducted a survey to better understand the impact that living with an ostomy has on sleep.
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Learn the results of our ostomy sleep survey.
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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.