Gratitude

Hi all,

 

I wanted to do a separate post about gratitude, since I'm so grateful for so much out of this whole health crisis I've had these past few months.

 

I'm grateful that my colon suddenly self-destructed, since my proctits apparently wasn't curable and I was faced with having to live forever with internal bleeding, diarrhea, pain, and an incredibly limited life in terms of diet and activities.  My colon becoming "shredded" (according to the surgeon) meant that I had something fixable that meant I could now have a real life, with quality.

 

I'm grateful that...

 

I can (when the Minnesota winter ends :-) walk around the block with my dog and/or my kids, and not have to worry about what I would do if I had to go to the bathroom three houses down...

 

I can get theater tickets wherever I want them, rather than just where there are aisle seats available...

 

When I next travel abroad I will be able to eat during my travel days, instead of having to ration what I can cram into my flight bag after packing an entire trip's worth of vitamins, supplements, camera equipment and film...

 

I will be able to drive my daughter(s) 10 minutes to the movies with a friend without having to worry about using my previous emergency system of giant Ziploc bags and kleenex in front of their friends...

 

I will be able to do any carpool at all, or drive the hour from Albuquerque to Santa Fe with my mother and her boyfriend, or drive anywhere with friends, or my husband's family, without having to worry about an emergency bathroom situation...

 

I will be able to sit somewhere else in a plane other than in the back by the bathroom, on the aisle, and I won't have to embarass myself in front of the flight attendant by having to explain my medical situation, and that I may have to run to the bathroom on takeoff or landing (which is against the law and is fineable)...

 

I can eat anything, anywhere I want!...

 

I can go into a new building (store, theater, restaurant) and not have to worry first thing about where's the bathroom...

 

I can go to a party or some other social function at someone's house and not have to worry about how many people are going to be there in ratio to how many bathrooms there are...

 

I can go shopping with my children and not have to leave them at least 4 times per hour for the bathroom...

 

I can make travel arrangements for wonderful trips and not have to worry about whether I'll be too sick to go, or try to anticipate how I'd manage if I started to get sicker out in some remote area of the world...

 

I'm sure there's more, and I'd love to hear what others are grateful for.

 

Anita

www.hometown.aol.com/meilandra

 

 

 

 

 

 

  Hey Anita..

 

I'm so glad I read your posting..I too am thankful for various things, but as of late, sometimes it's hard to remember them all while struggling with the idea of this bag hanging off of me.  It's not what I wamted, as a matter of fact, I had every surgery I can think of to prevent it. My family encourages me that God has it all under controll. Sometimes I wonder if he walked away from the controll panels..Anyways, your posting touched me, I'm so happy for you, but mostly that your kids get their mom back. I know from experience how hard this stuff is on kids.

Take care. and "Happy Walking"!!

                                                                Tammy

See, its these kind of post that make it easier for me to deal with getting a bag.

THANK YOU !!!!!!!!!

Tonia

Hi all,

I haven't been downstairs much lately so that's why I haven't posted. I had my second surgery, the proctectomy, on July 8th. I came home with a catheter and have had ongoing complications with my bladder, so I've been kind of out of the loop. First I got a bad bladder infection, then I got worse on the meds for that and found out the first one was the wrong one for my bacteria (once the culture came back), then I got a yeast infection from that medication, then the two times they tried to have me pee without the catheter it didn't work, so now for over two weeks I've had to catheterize myself every 3-4 hours! The urologist says he can't predict how long this might take, "weeks or months"... :-(

Not fun, all the pain, frustration, discomfort, fear about how all this is going to go, and visits to the ER (three in the first week after my discharge.) Having a little trouble finding things to be grateful about with all of this...

Anita

Hi Anita.

I was pleased to see that your post finished up with "Life is good" After reading about the problems that you were having with your bladder,I was thinking "Oh no,she just got her life back due to surgery and now she has got other problems"

I am presuming that everything with your bladder settled down in the end then? I hope so.