Looking for ostomy education & related topics, helpful hints & real life experiences? Look no further! Browse our blog for support!

GALENTINES: How have the women in your life helped you with your ostomy?

Never mind waiting for a man to buy you flowers (thank you Miley for the reminder!) Galentine’s Day is an excuse to show love and gratitude to those in your life that have helped you through the hard times and celebrated you through the good. I am extremely blessed to have wonderful friends and family around me, and I count myself very lucky in the past year through one of the most difficult yet that I have had that support network around me and my little man. 

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How can I prepare my child for going back to school with a stoma?

A new school year brings with it so much hope and promise. For me working, in education it has always felt more like New Years than New Years itself. It's such a milestone when your child progresses to the next academic year. Another Summer has passed making memories and letting them be kids for that much longer, in a world where it seems so keen on advancing at an exponential rate. I think we can all agree that the youth of today seem to be growing older at a far quicker rate than generations before them. 

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Friendship and acceptance

I am rather a sociable being and love the bones of my friends. Having a poorly child will show you very quickly who the real ones are, the ones that reach out. The ones that have the difficult conversations then entertain your anxieties and dramatics in times of hardship. Child-care has always been an achilles heal for us with a child with both an ostomy and a feeding tube. 

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Eating Disorders Awareness Week

Did you know that GP’s in the UK get less than 2 hours training on eating disorders in their medical degree (sourced here)? It’s simply inconceivable. The topic of eating disorders was something I never had to give much thought about until I had my son, yet now it consumes most of my thoughts. Eating disorders awareness week is a chance to share our stories and connect with like minded people.

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Inclusive Birthday Parties

It's that time again when my baby boy (not so much baby anymore) has his birthday and this year he turns 6! He has come so far, and exceeds all expectations with a big personality to match. With that light at the end of the covid tunnel looking brighter and brighter each day, many children have been having birthday parties where possible.

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Holidaying as an ostomate

I’m back again guys following a lovely holiday with my family! We have always stayed in the UK since we had our baby ostomate now 5 years old, so current circumstances haven’t made any difference to us choosing to visit the beautiful Exmouth in Devon. Despite a few wet days at the start, parts of the UK entered a heatwave with temperatures entering late 20s/early 30s. 

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Hirschsprungs Disease Awareness

When you think of reasons for a stoma bag what comes to mind? IBD, Crohn’s or Colitis are some of the first, but have you heard of Hirschsprungs Disease? Presenting in 1 in 5000 babies a year in the UK, this rare bowel disease is a birth defect that can occur with no family history of the disease. The nerve cells that line the intestines that are needed to move stool along into the rectum for toileting (known as ganglion cells), are not present. Your intestines should rhythmically move stool along in a wave-like contraction which when failing to do so cause tummy distention and constipation.

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Home Schooling and Ostomies

Did you think that your ostomy may help you with home schooling your kids? Nope well it can do!! Ra-Ra is learning about the human body right now; more specifically the organs, so what better way to talk a bit more about ostomies (and poop and pee) than during this topic. We have a whatsapp group amongst the mums in our year group to help give each other ideas etc and one mum is a flipping genius she got some wallpaper and drew round her son on the back and had him draw on the organs from his encylopedia. Now I didn’t have any wallpaper but we had some fax style paper which I luckily had enough to draw round...

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