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Life

Today is world mental health day and I just want to say I am not okay. I don’t need to share with you pictures of me at my lowest because that was last year and I managed to write to you all every week and pretend everything is okay. That’s what we do isn’t it? Fake it till we make it? Social media is full of unhappy people trying to make other people think they are happy or that their life is perfect. Perfection is in the eye of the beholder. Take my life for example…. If you take out the fact I’m ill give or take always have been and will always be ill, the fact 00Steve is always...

Tomorrow is World Ostomy Day and I just wanted to take a minute to talk about what it has been like for me over the last 4.5 years of having a stoma both the good, the bad and the ugly. This is by far my favourite image because falling pregnant with Button was just such an uncertainty especially after losing Bean just a few months before; knowing I could get to this stage in pregnancy was so amazing and also terrifying as anything can happen with pregnancy.  My ileostomy has given me so many opportunities that I couldn't have dreamed about such as: falling pregnant twice even if Bean didn't make it they gave us hope being able to run...

So I have mentioned before that I may have to have further surgery on my ileostomy as it has retracted a fair bit and causes me a lot of hassle in my day to day like which is draining mentally and physically. This was originally mentioned back in November last year and was only briefly touched upon as due to surgical emergencies my appointment was running really late and I had to catch a bus. I have been ruminating on this since then and I was originally supposed to have had an appointment at the beginning of March to discuss everything. As we all know far too well the global pandemic of COVID – 19 happened and soon put a stop...

I spent a very long time being poorly and adjusting to life from a preteen being exhausted and thinking about where the nearest toilet was. Most people that now have an ostomy for whatever reason I’m sure have experienced that as well. Even though after my first surgery I had a little bit of remission I wasn’t able to fully enjoy my life as I went from having constipation to diarrhoea. I wanted to appreciate some of the things I can do now with toilets being the least of my worries!     Enjoying time with my kids; okay so Button came along after my ileostomy but Ra-Ra didn’t and she didn’t have much of a mum for those 2.5...

Pet therapy is a well known concept and I wanted to talk about how it has had a place in my life and to introduce my new dog Kobe! So I have worked in health care in a variety of settings for all my adult life and I have seen first hand how this kind of therapy can help many people be distracted from the pain they are in. Around the time that I started getting sick my parents got our dog Maxie she was a much loved little tart who loved a belly rub; she was never going to be a good guard dog although being a yorkshire terrier cross jack russell she knew how to bark. She used...

My opinions on my surgeries have changed over time and I certainly don’t feel the same way about ostomies as I did 12 years ago. Why 12 years ago? Well that is when I went in for my first bowel surgery and at 21 years old I had no idea what a stoma was, let alone there was the chance of having one.  The surgeon I saw decided he could do the jpouch surgery in one fell swoop which give him his due he did do and I often think now but at what cost? My newly formed pouch wasn’t given a chance to heal by not having the ileostomy which would have been a temporary measure. This popped up...

Welcome welcome! Happy New Year from the whole Comfizz team! How crazy is it that we have entered into a new decade? I know to some that probably isn’t anything special but this is the first decade since the millennium that I have actually paid attention to that!  As I mentioned in my last post I spent the week between Christmas and New Years down with family in Cornwall and the holiday itself was lovely – we took our nephew along with our two to the castle’s at Falmouth (Pendennis) and St Mawes plus St Michael’s Mount. I’m a history buff and I don’t care! My stoma had however other ideas and from the drive down to the day we drove back...

Myself and the Comfizz team hope you had a lovely Christmas Day and Boxing Day!! I am currently in Cornwall for a few days in between Christmas and New Years Eve, this is our second time doing this since having my ostomy and this time we at least don’t have a 6 month baby to think about. It is Button’s second time in a hotel the first being when we stayed in the Lake District for Ra-Ra’s staycation birthday weekend. Last time we stayed in Cornwall we were able to stay at 00Steve’s Dad’s but they had visitors so we are 3 miles down the road. Even though I am no stranger to the whole staycation thing and have gone...

So I thought I would do something a little different this week and I have written a few poems on life with an ostomy which you can find here, here and here. Often writing a particular theme can give you writers block especially on poems; this was certainly no different even though I used the acrostic style. Do you remember writing poems in this style as a child in primary schools often around harvest or Christmas?   O – opportunities to be experienced S – support from others T – travelling can become easier O – optimism for the future M – medical marvels Y – years to look forward too   L – less trips to the loo! I – independence regained F – fitness can be achieved once more E – events...

A year or so ago I decided to raise awareness for ostomies (for World IBD Day) by sticking ostomy bags to statues around where I live which you can read about here. The same year I believe I stuck a bag on my carved pumpkin which made for a good talking point for people when they came to our house; this is something easy we could all do and create awareness whilst having a bit of fun. I am going to do that again this year too with some of the bag samples that I didn’t get on with. I also aim to “osto bomb” some of our local places of interest with some decorated bags with ghosts and maybe even a pumpkin...