I know your thinking pain. Yes, I still had pain. Dealing with the bag was something I really wasn't prepared for. I remembered my Ostomy nursing coming to make sure that I knew what to do, but in all honestly I was a saying yes because all I wanted was to go home!!
I never knew that something so small can cause you so much pain. I'm talking about my stoma. A stoma is was where the bag is connected to and releases the bowel from your body. I never could get a bag to stay on for longer than a day.
Cathy and Grandma Lee decided that I needed to get out of the house so they took me shopping and treated me to lunch at Applebee's. I didn't really read the information books and little reads that they gave me before I left the hospital. I didn't need to read them I thought. Everyone else was reading it for me and were telling me the information that they were learning. I didn't care really. However, I do remember being put on a low fiber diet. I didn't care what low fiber ment. I just wanted to eat because I was finally getting my appetite back. I remember ordering steamed carrots at Applebee's that day. I will tell my future patients about this story on how they need to listen to what others are telling you!! I'm very hard headed if you haven't caught it before now!!
I was woken up that night with something warm running down my belly. I pulled the covers back to see that my bag became unattached and that it was now going all over me and the bed at this point. I didn't know what to do. It was my first time with out Andrew there to help me. I then began to cry. The only thing I could do was call Cathy to come help. It was 3 am. I couldn't walk to get her because I knew that I would make drops all over the whole house trying to get her. So, what would we do without cell phones now. I called twice before Mike answered the phone. She came in, and I was balling like a baby. I apologized for waking everybody up and told her my reason for calling. I still had the covers pulled back and she soon realized that I had made the right decision about calling instead of getting up.
WE more or less she tried for 2 hours to get a bag to stay on. She then called Grandma to come over to see if she could help.
I was so upset. I was in and out of the shower 4 times in 3 hours. You have to put the bag on clean skin. I had an eruption with my stoma every five seconds or so!! Everytime they got the skin good and clean my stoma would shoot again. It soon became funny but not for long. I was so embrassed!! I couldn't even take care of my own body. I began to think that I would never get one on.
At 6:30, they finally got one to stay. We went throught about 4 bags in 3 hours. I was so upset that I cried myself back to sleep.
I had an emergency with the number of bags. I was just down to two and wasn't quite sure when my order of supplies was coming in. Later that day and after much needed sleep, Grandma and Cathy went to a health supply store in Tupelo to get me more bags. I had know idea that the stuff was so expensive. A box of 10 was $100.
It was becoming real to me on how much everything was going to be for Andrew and I. Knowing this scared me because I knew we couldn't afford to pay for everything that I needed to help me take care of my stoma. My insurance is great. They ended up paying for all of my supplies that I ordered through the Hollistor.
I also called my Ostomy nurse at UAB and told her about the night that we had all been through. She said it sounded like a yeast infection around my stoma which would cause the bag to come lose. I didn't tell her about the carrots but that was all my fault and learned not to eat them until I had had my reversal. The powder was the best thing that I could have done.
I also remember our family 4th of July get together last year. I remember sitting in Pam's tub screaming to the top of my lungs because I had had the same thing happen again, but this time was not due to carrots. Lindsay, Andrew's cousin, came in. I wanted her to see what the bag looked like and what a stoma looked like. She was in nusring school, and I thought that it would be great experience for her. I didn't know that then but it was a great experience for me too. She came in and tried to help.
Like I said ealier, Andrew was the only one who really knew what he was doing with getting one to stay. I never left home without a change of clothes. I did indeed new a new dress after that. I was so ugly to him. It's a wonder that he didn't back hand me a few times. I knew he really wanted to but knew it wasn't what should be done. I could have ripped him one side and down the other because he was hurting me so bad. All of the glues and cleaning wipes had alochol in them!! That is what was causing all of the burning and stinging that I was having!!
It was crazy!! I will never forget this for as long as I live.
July 4, 2009:
July 4, 2010:
I have changed a lot since last year in size, shape, and most importantly my walk with God. I thank God everyday for helping me through a every hard time. Through God all things are possible!!
