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esoR said...
As you aged with your ileostomy, did weight change and size change of you make you have to change ostomy systems, like go into convexity to avoid burns under the stoma? OR with age did your stoma need to be surgically revised? I am dealing with a new system to cure a burn due to some weight gain and I did meet with success and am now experimenting with different equipment.
Weight has changed heaps over the years and I'm now in the process of trying to lose it all again (lost 16kgs so far, woohoo!)! Thank goodness I've never notice the weight gain (or loss) have any effect on my 'stickability' power. I've been regularly getting 6 - 7 days weartime out of my one piece wafer for many years now. It hasn't changed. My stoma has always stuck out approx 1 1/2 inches or so and that hasn't changed so no need for convexity for me. It's never needed to be revised either, thank goodness.
esoR said...
Also how on earth, in all honesty, did you stand this from 10 years of age? (I KNOW we are all lucky to be alive and all, which is the MAIN thing, but how did you do this? I had to get my needed ostomy at 50 due to an injury which occurred during a GYN surgery and was lucky I found someone to do the needed ileostomy so I could survive (so not knocking it), but I would think this would have been hard as a child/young adult?)
I honestly think it's much easier on a child than on an adult. As a kid, all I knew (and cared about
) was that surgery was going to make me feel better. My parents did all the (needless) worrying for me. I embraced it from the start and have never ever let my ileostomy hold me back from doing anything I want to do. I was in the family pool swimming six weeks after my surgery!
As a teen, I never really let it bother me either. I don't know... I guess I was just determined not to be different to the other kids and do everything they did. Only a few close friends knew about
my surgery back then (nowadays I tell anyone who cares to listen - I love educating people lol) but I was shyer back then. Over the years I went on numerous school camps, both in dorms and out in the
open, and nobody was ever the wiser about
my ostomy. I was even part of the school army cadets and every August all of the cadet units in Perth would gather at an army base down south for two weeks where we would rapel (abseil), do numerous obstacle courses, etc and I would take part just like everybody else.
To be honest, I've always just done what I want to do without even taking my ostomy into account. It just comes along for the ride and if a problem does arise, then I just deal with it and go on my way lol
esoR said...
Also are you one who can eat anything, or have you had to make diet mods in 35 years?
Thankfully, I can eat whatever I want to. I had my surgery in the days when there were no such things as dietary guidelines for ostomates, for which I'm glad. I was never nervous about
trying new foods because I hadn't been told to be. All I was told to do was CHEW, CHEW, CHEW and this has, so far, kept me out of trouble :)