Reevaluating Life Expectancy: Ostomy & Uncertain Times

Well said.

Well, I am 73 and have had ostomy issues. Anyway, I think having an ostomy is a blessing compared to having a sick colon.

OK, so I have 5 hernia repairs now, one at the sigmoid area then 3 in my belly and then lastly at the ostomy on my right side before I had the last surgery to move the ostomy to the left side.

Gee MMSH, if I add ten years I'm ancient, but still kicking. My nephew had to point out the remainder of the saying: "Or die in the attempt".
My surgeon offered to fix the hernia, but I pointed out that then it would be repeated every two years, so he suggested if it doesn't hurt to leave it until I need a pant size larger. I agreed didn't tell him these pants have an expanding belt, lol.
The removal of four masses of colon and colorectal cancer, six months of chemo and radiation didn't change my lifestyle a whole lot. I finally stopped working since I lost money if I made too much working, funny thing I have less time now than I did before.
I suggest you use my attitude and sayings, including this one:
Worry about the things you can change, ignore those you can't, ergo don't worry be happy.

I am not a doctor, but I don't believe that an ostomy shortens one's life. In fact, I believe that the opposite could be true as it keeps the "waste traffic" moving, thereby reducing the amount of time that any ingested, potentially carcinogenic matter, remains in your system.

Yes, I believe that too. I have had my ileostomy for 25 years now and have not had a flare-up of my Crohn's since. It has given me a better life, meaning I can now go do things without running to a bathroom and health-wise, no more hospital stays. I was in and out of the hospital since the age of 17-30. It has helped me to do more with my life, therefore having a better quality of life. So, I feel it helps you live longer by being able to do more things, staying active. Anyway, it's not always fun having this, but it certainly saved my life. I certainly feel that.

I was 'awarded' my life-saving stoma at the age of 23. Without the surgery, my 'life expectancy' was approximately 2 years at best.... I'm now 66 years old (67 on Friday 15th December... wish me happy birthday, folks :D). So I guess I can't complain about my extended 'borrowed time'.

Happy Birthday and bless you!

Yes- Happy Birthday!

OldCrohn, you dug up an old post of mine. I appreciate your interest and wish you a happy birthday.

My question is, are people in general not just ostomats living longer or is this fake news.

Thanks for the birthday wishes, friends :D

I asked my GI doc that very question recently (2018) and his opinion was that it (ostomy) would not affect life expectancy in a negative way. Life expectancy obviously depends on a lot of things but having an ostomy shouldn't shorten our lives in and of itself. So, I'm going with that. :)

To your original question: I read longevity, especially in first world countries, has peaked due to unhealthy eating/obesity/junk food etc. So it has declined slightly (in general).

Hi Bill, you seem to be doing pretty good with your CPAP. Me on the other hand, fight my CPAP every night. I consider it the bane of my existence! I know I have to have it and when I don't wear it, I have issues but I hate it tremendously!! I dread having to wear it every night. I hate things over my face and I have to wear the full face mask due to being a mouth breather. I have to take medicine every night to keep me from having a panic attack and if I do have one, I can't wear it the rest of the night. I have tried numerous masks but our VA is limited. I just don't know how to "not" hate it. Any suggestions???

Hello Freedancer.

This reply to your post is as bit late but your post has only just been brought to my attention, so I have only just noticed it.

The concept of trying to help people ‘not to hate’ (anything) is quite an intriguing one and I might have been inclined to avoid tackling it. However, having spent most of my working life helping people to control their emotions, I do have a whole ‘programme’ of pointers which might help in this regard.  These pointers are listed in a book entitled ‘Handbook of self-help Hints’ 2003 (reprinted 2004). Unfortunately, the concepts and their explanations are far too lengthy to attach to a post such as this and they are usually part of a personalised programme that extends over a period of at least a year.

On the other hand, there are some very practical things that I tried with my own CPAP mask which eventually worked sufficiently well for me to get a good night’s sleep without cursing the mask too much. This might be a more practical approach to your problem.

To begin with, the full face mask took off the skin above and around my nose which was painful and impractical. I therefore made a nose inhaler out of copper tubing which I showed to the consultant as an example of what can work and not make things worse. He then prescribed what are described as ‘nose-pads’ which are a much softer and more manageable ‘mask’ to wear. However, I then needed to have some way of keeping my mouth shut because otherwise the air simply circulated up my nose and out of my mouth. This I did at first with a chinstrap supplied by the hospital which was pretty useless, so I made my own from towelling material with a layer of the same material they make wetsuits from, this is secured with Velcro and has done the job reasonably well for a number of years.

I still think that there ‘should be’ a device which we could wear in  our mouths a bit like the gum-shields that rugby players wear, but which would allow the air flow through both the nose and the mouth in the same way that the full face masks do. However, I have not managed to get such a device made so far, so I’m still stuck with the nosepad input and the chinstrap.

I have found that starting off the night with olbas oil in the tubing helps to clear the nasal passage and sinuses, which makes for a quicker and more comfortable sleep .

I hope these comments might help in  some practical way, but it’s a bit like having a stoma in that I’m still not over-keen on having to use it, but the alternative is worse, so I simply grin and bear it!

Best wishes

Bill  

PS: It might be worth mentioning that my wife seems to hate the CPAP machine more than I do as the noise seems to keep her awake at nights!!