Learn what you can about your ostomy

There is so much to really learn in the world that it can be mind-boggling.  In reality, we only know a tiny fraction of the information that exists.  But if you have an ostomy it is wise to understand as much as you can about your gear and body to help live a happy comfortable life.   I know that this year may be a little different being 2021 and the pandemic is over.  But the fact is that once you get past the basics and get into a regular routine, your own life will pretty much return to normal.  That is more of a gift of hope than anything.  It is crazy to think that so many people believe their joy in life will end when they get a stoma.  But a lot of people are actually living normally and not just because the pandemic is subsiding. 

My every day is pretty active and I really enjoy that part of my life.  I am not in the best of shape, but I enjoy being outside and enjoying nature.  For me, that means keeping in pretty good cardio shape and also learning to keep extra ostomy gear on me.  I am now a professional at keeping my gear dry and I know that it sounds like a weird thing to say.  But I love hiking and to me keeping my ostomy gear safe and secure is important because even though I live a pretty normal life, my gear makes me feel safe.  Honestly, you can go out and have a nice active life as long as you are smart about it.

But I didn't start at 100%.  I worked my body and my muscles back into shape after my surgery.  It is no great feat, but I spend a few months slowly working in the gym to make sure I was building muscle and doing it safely.  I was so afraid of hernias and getting injured, but I think starting slow as a good thing to do.  Being active and happy is part of what brings joy to my life.  I think they go hand in hand so I wanted to make sure I didn't ruin anything.  So I started to walk and walk inclined.  It was a bit hard to do that at first, but I learned to build muscle in my abs and worked on different cardio's to get my body back into a nice shape.

All of my work paid off and I was able to hike outside and be in the wild again. For that part of my journey, I simply started asking for help.  I talked to my local pharmacist who gave me all his knowledge on how to be active with a stoma and related many stories he had been told during his time of selling ostomy gear.  It was great to hear all of that information and then he told me to call big companies and ask them about gear made specifically for that task.  I was still a little afraid, but I decided to finally do it one day and learned of specialized gear and other ways to stay safe outside.  This was all pretty specific to me, so get out and study up on what will work best with your body.