ostomy bag

It’s been 4 weeks since surgery. The days following surgery seemed to drag. I remember thinking a few times that I just wanted to fast forward a few weeks so I wouldn’t have to deal with all of this. Now here I am. I’m a little less tired than I was last week.. granted it’s nine and I am in bed. I am definitely moving around much better. Bending up and down and lifting my legs are still tough… not because of soreness or pain, but because I am just weak. Also, it feels a bit uncomfortable to bend down, especially when I have a belt on and it’s right up against the bottom of the bag. I am still waiting on the stealth belt. No real problems to report bag wise. Everything seems to be going okay. I weighed 111 pounds at my 2 week check up… I weight 120 pounds now, at least that’s what the scale at my house reads. (not 100% reliable) The point is, I am getting some weight back. It’ll just have to take time unfortunately. I have been waking up at night at least once to release the air from my bag. I am now realizing that there’s no reason to get a bag without a filter. With a filter you can avoid having to open the bag to release the air. With a filter it takes care of it for you and is odor free. A huge plus. Why they even have bags without the filter is beyond me, but is certainly something I wish I knew before I ordered 20 bags without one. My nurse (mom) is going to call for me tomorrow and see if we can get a sample of a bag or two with the filter. That would save me a lot of middle of the night wake-ups and trips to the bathroom to let the air out myself. We’ll see how it goes. I am ready to be back to normal. I also have not tried to drink yet. After work tomorrow will be my first experiment. One Captain and Coke. Wednesday I’ll do two, thursday three, and so on until my bag explodes, or until I do… I’ve got to test my limits. Also, if I can’t swing a golf club soon I’ll certainly lose my mind. The weather is getting real nice here… I need to play. My next bag change isn’t until Thursday morning.. the day of my trip to Boston. I’ll check back in then! Oh, one more thing.. tonight I dumped out a bottle of LIALDA and 6MP. That sure did feel good. Also, I’ve been off Prednisone for a week, and I’m feeling real good!

I woke up feeling not so refreshed to Hozier’s, Cherry Wine at 7 on the dot. Another not so good night of sleep of which I am getting quite tired of. (pun?)

We were off to Chapel Hill for the first check up since surgery. Osty stayed home… he wasn’t feeling great (I think it was something he ate.) I was excited to hear first hand that I was progressing in a timely manner. That all the small hiccups along the way were normal and to hang in there.

The three hour drive went fast with the help of some Pandora and Nick Offerman’s book Paddle Your Own Canoe.

The doctor came in (30 minutes late) with nothing but positive things to say. He actually is a real good guy and definitely helps put my mind at ease regarding the speed of my recovery and everything that goes along with it. They sent my colon out to make sure it was in fact colitis and not crohns… The results were what we expected, it was in fact a severe case of colitis. No crohns. No cancerous cells. All good news. The stitches were removed…this hurt. Way more than I expected. He reinforced the fact that I was real sick and that it would take time to get healthy again. That patience was important. We scheduled an appointment for a month from now to check progress and discuss the next surgery. That was that. We left and I decided I needed to empty my bag. This was the first time I’d be emptying my bag outside my house. A bit intimidating, especially given the fact I didn’t have any wet wipes with me. In short, things were fine. It just took a bit longer using just toilet paper…don’t forget your wet wipes..ever!

Half way home now. I just had to blow my nose for the first time… I didn’t have the strength to blow, so there’s that. I’m going to try and sleep. When I get home, I’m going to stuff my face. I’ll check in tomorrow or the next day. Until then, thanks for continuing to keep up with the recovery. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to reach out!