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“Catch-22” is a 1970 black comedy anti-war film adapted for the screen by Buck Henry from Joseph Heller’s 1961 novel. I must admit upfront that I find Heller’s novel to be one of the greatest of the 20th Century. It did not follow normal chronological progression, which makes Henry’s successful screenplay all the more impressive (although it got mixed reviews at the time). Another anti-war film, Robert Altman’s M*A*S*H, came out at the same time and was a lot more successful. But I found Alan Arkin perfe...

Have had my friend over 30 years & never experienced this. Ordered supplies from Parthenon, gave them Medicare info, etc. They required me to pay in full & wouldn't submit to Medicare or my supplement. A first for me. How do I submit to Medicare? Thanks So Much!

Anybody have a good glue that when the corner side of a wafer lets loose you can glue it back down hopefully?

Hi All,  I want to try out my stoma paste for the first time instead of using the barrier ring but I'm not sure how much to use.  Several have said to make a ring of it around the stoma, but how thick of a ring?  I'm thinking less may be more and using too much might not be good, so I will wait and hope someone out there can give me some advice.  Many thanks!   Terry

“This is the most beautiful place on earth,” wrote Edward Abbey to begin his book Desert Solitaire. I had already seen Arches National Park, the place Abbey was praising, before I came to his book, but it was when I read his book that I knew he and I were buddies, notwithstanding that he had died fourteen years before I even made it to Utah. Abbey served as a summer ranger at Arches when it was a national Monument, before it was upgraded to a Park and became infested with an overabundance of gawking tourists that he deplored. T...

A good friend of mine , after 6 years of medical school and training has been fired for ONE minor indiscretion. He slept with one of his patients and can no longer work in the profession. What a waste of time, effort, training and money! He is still paying on school loans. Just goes to show you how only ONE minor mistake can ruin your life.Please keep him and his family in your thoughts during this holiday season. He is a really great guy and one of the best veterinarians I know .

“Cinema Paradiso” is a 1988 Italian film which won an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film at the 62nd Academy Awards. A famous film director receives word that Alfredo has died. Alfredo was the middle-aged projectionist at the little town cinema who befriended the then 8-year-old director thirty years earlier. The film unwinds as the director’s flashback memories of his youth, with a memorable score by the great Ennio Morricone. Sentimental, nostalgic, often hilarious, the film ends with the director returning home for A...

Originally I wrote this in responce to a subject `Faith Hope and charity' forum entry, but think I should start a fresh. Thankyou Mike though for your insperation. It actually made me feel better after i stopped typing and helped aligned my ducks slightly. Sorry if i seem to preach but i am talking to myself more so... Here we go.... real deep breath in.... There is no real meaning to anything.. everything is a construct..a metaphor..an idea.The lines and shapes our minds draw around things are just lines and shapes.We bring meaning to ...

Hi was wondering if anyone knows if spain has a disabled key system, as I will be going for two months and would like to purchase one thanks

In 1971, I sold my beloved Triumph motorcycle, and I’m still having motorcycle dreams today, fifty years later. Of course, I could always enroll in the required cycle safety course, add a cycle certification to my driver license, and go buy a bike. In fact, I find myself fantasizing about doing that all the time, and certainly the night dreams illustrate my continuing preoccupation with climbing onto another motorcycle. But it’s not going to happen. Even on my morning walks, I can tell that my internal gyroscope is showing sign...

Looking for opinions on ileostomy reversal...my surgeon has told me I can in fact get this reversed, as soon as next month. I'm wanting to be sure this is the thing to do. Just looking for others opinions or what they would do in the same position. Being still new to this, there may be things I have no clue to think about before making this big decision. I also have Crohns to factor in as well. Your thoughts? 

I have a descending colostomy. I am wondering if anyone has had to have a BB due to painful mucus that won't come out only with enemas. I need to do several enemas a day. The mucus is a greenis color most of the time.when they do a BB do they need to change from a colostomy to an iliostomy?  What is the recovery time for the BB?

Today I am a sloth, unmoving, just hanging around. My limbs have suddenly developed a low muscle mass and cannot support my weight. I am moving only when necessary. Yesterday, I ingested way too much cornbread dressing, multiple portions of sweet potato, and prodigious amounts of pumpkin cake. Cleaning up the kitchen afterwards took a supreme effort. I barely made it through the last pot before collapsing into a recliner, my wife on the couch, and neither of us stayed awake long enough to reflect upon the sin of gluttony or the dietary cri...

Hi everyone,  New here..first post.. Deep breath.. Had an emergency ileostomy 3mths ago now, and so much has changed in my life. Seriously.. where to begin. Used to be so into my sports, music, and work, but its all gone away. Basically feel like a totally different person who wakes up twice every morning. Once from sleep... if I get any.. and then once again into this new world of... what has just happened to me ? Waking up is horrible... After 3mths its still real hard. So many questions for a first blog. Just happy to be amongst...

Hi All -- Had another else encountered this? When I got this blasted contraption a very strange thing happened, I got a consistent metallic/coppery taste in my mouth that made everything, even plain water, unpalatable! I literally could not eat. I did some research and found that this is a common condition with cancer patients. It's a combination of chemical changes and stomach acid. Acid reducers like Pepcid help, but not always completely. To combat the problem people found that adding a little bit of vinegar to their food counteracte...

Happy Thanksgiving to all MAO folks and their families! Hope your holiday is safe and healthy! Puppyluv

What foods to eat  prevent pouchitis?  

It just occurred to me that tomorrow I will be in a situation where I cannot get to a private area. I am a colostomate, a male, with an occasional leakage of mucus which I easily take care of when at home but what can I wear when there's a time I have to be hours in public?

Hi all,  I know I read somewhere on this forum about gas and what some people were doing to solve the problem, but I can't for the life of me find it.  I think my discomfort is coming from gas, not much room for gas to disperse when you only have your small bowel hooked up, and when I do get some out it feels much better.  The thing is I love all the foods that cause gas, and I really don't want to give them up as they are also really healthy foods, onions, garlic, many vegetables, beans, spices.  Are there things you c...

My thanks to each and every one of you who ask, answer, share and sometimes just offer opinions here at MAO. I also want to thank the administrators for their efforts. That might be a first.  For the most part we’re really good for each other and when we’re not, it’s not because we didn’t try.Happy Thanksgiving to all! Sincerely, Mike

Are ostomates classified as having an underlying condition if they are being treated for Covid-19?  Are we more at risk? I think not, but I'm curious as to how the medical professionals feel about this.

The catalogs that we receive in a year could insulate a medium-sized home. They pour in through the mail, as if the stream of solicitation e-mail from the same companies weren’t enough. Sometimes we will get duplicate catalogs on the same day, one addressed to me and the other to my wife. Once we got three from LL Bean, my daughter accounting for the third one. The trash bag gets awfully heavy when it is filled with catalogs. Most of them repeat the same old merchandize from catalog to catalog with perhaps a few new things thrown i...

Watching a movie that is very refreshing  Under the Tuscan Sun   Recommended by: Cplumber

Hi All,  I never had to use barrier rings with my colostomy, but now with the ileostomy my peristomal skin is red and irritated so I am using a barrier ring.  One ostomy nurse told me I shouldn't use a barrier ring with a convex pouch (too much pressure on the stoma she said) while another nurse told me it was fine.  I'd like to hear from any of you who have actual experience.  What do you think?  I have mostly convex pouches right now but I find they are not as comfortable as the flat flanges.  I would think ...

IT’S NOT TRUE that hindsight is 20 -20. Our memories aren’t that trustworthy, nor is our ability to learn from our past errors. Vanity and self-deceit too often preclude accuracy in our remembrance of even ourselves. Our egos act as inhibitors as well.So looking in the rearview mirrors of our minds has only a limited success rate when it comes to understanding our lives. Self-respect presupposes a selective memory.Yet if looking backward has its inadequacies, looking forward with predictability is well beyond human capability. ...

“You say to-may-toe, and I say to-mah-toe,You say po-tay-toe, and I say po-tah-toe,To-may-toe, to-mah-toe, po-tay-toe, po-tah-toe,Let’s call the whole thing off.” Every person has a unique way of speaking or writing that sets them apart. Sometimes it’s a reflection of where they live; sometimes it is a clue as to how they live; or it could be an educational byproduct (or lack thereof). Sometimes it is even matched up with the type of personality they have. Irrespective of what produced the difference, it is the dis...

Hi everyone, I have been having trouble with leakage recently and would appreciate any advise. I had my bladder and prostate removed in October 2018 after bladder cancer had penetrated my bladder wall. I xperimented with numerous urostomy bags finallly settling on Hollister bags (I think they are convex), and I use "O" rings and flange extenders. I went for some time with only the occasional leak, sometimes not changing my bag for 5 days! I have a fairly large incisional hernia whic( was caused by the operation, which has been getting bigg...

Are politicians really necessary? I speak here of politicians in a pejorative sense, as our current crop of self-important, special interest-courting, party-line hugging politicos exist these days. Notwithstanding our constant reference to our form of government as a democracy, anyone paying attention knows it is no longer true and, in fact, may never have been true. Lincoln’s oft-quoted line about government “of the people, by the people, for the people” sounded good, but has never actually been an accurate description o...

greetings ostofriends.  i haven't piped up about anything in a long while and wanted to let you know that i still think of y'all fondly.  i was the person with the bad stoma-redo a year ago, the unpouchable cherry-in-a-funnel stoma.  what a frickfracking mess..  got a revision of the revision in february that gave some relief but none of the no-leak joy of years gone by.  expressed that to the 2nd surgeon and he responded to the conundrum by referring me to plastics to lipo way the funnel.  then covid hit, ...

Has anyone passed stones through their stoma?