A new lease on life

I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that the surgery I had was life changing. Although learning to live with an ostomy is challenging at times - I am able to enjoy life in ways that I haven't been able to in years.

On July 11 we headed to Floating Stone National Park to enjoy a day of Leroux Family Reunion. We didn't camp out but I did use my in-laws trailer for a quick flange change and cleaning. Let me just say that trailer toilets are very very very tiny and emptying your bag while your sitting on a toilet barely big enough for a bum is difficult. The other challenge I'm having right now is the heat - it's making me itchy and so the adhesive around my flange isn't sticking as well as it will in cooler months.

We had a great time at the reunion, I didn't have to worry about being sick and I could eat anything I wanted. It's been a really long time since I didn't have to worry about that. And we topped off the evening by breaking out of the campground - thank you to Uncle Vic and Dad Henri for your efforts! I mean who locks the campground at 11 p.m. and then wanders away so no one can get out?

Then this past weekend it was off to Red Deer for my nephew's 5th birthday and then a few days of 'couple time' in Banff. I know you all think I'm crazy - who spends three days in Banff in July during peak tourist season? Well the answer is ME! And it was awesome. Thanks to the economic situation in the States Banff was very quiet. No crowds, no line ups, sales on in every store and we got to stay at the Rimrock Resort for half price. Adding up to a very nice holiday thank you very much.

We took in the gondola (which I've never done before) and went for a trip to the hot springs (also something I have never done). We did a bunch of hiking and a river raft tour on the Bow River. All stuff I either would have missed out on for being sick or would have done after taking about two tons of Imodium and spending all the time praying I didn't have to go to the bathroom. And of course suffering the after effects the next day of bunging yourself up on purpose in order to enjoy every day things.

Wearing my ostomy in the hot springs - no problem at all. It felt really weird at first and I was self conscious you could see the bag through my tankini top but you couldn't really unless you knew what to look for. There were only 35 of us at the hot springs and we had a great time. Also for hiking and other activities I have a cool belt that wraps around my waist and hooks on to my ostomy pouch to hold it tight to my stomach helping me to feel way more comfortable and secure.

We did see some wildlife - here is a great shot of Elk Bum that Paul took from the truck window. As usual some idiot tourists were way too close and were practically touching the elk trying to get a nice close up video of it. It's not a petting zoo people! Unfortunately this elk was very quiet and didn't go all crazy and make hoof meat out of them. I'm disappointed a bit because I had my camera ready to tape the whole thing and then I would have sent it in to America's funniest videos and been able to stay home from work for another couple of months with the money I would have won. Either way - someone should have run over said tourists with their vehicles to make sure they didn't reproduce and create stupid children.

I'm back to work in just a week and a half - the time off has flown by and I'm feeling better than I have in years.

Feelin' good and lookin' fine!

I go back to work on August 4. Which means of course that this month of July will fly by and I'll be sad that my time off is over. I have decided that I have missed my calling as a pampered St. Albert house wife.

I had a doctor's appointment on Friday, July 3 with my gastro specialist to discuss my medications. Final verdict - I have to continue on with my Humira injections because studies have shown that the injection should keep me in remission longer now that all my sick parts have been cut out of me. My doctor and I chatted a bit - he and the surgeon are both amazed at how much disease I had and the fact I was still walking around. He looked at me and said "you were one very sick little girl." I'm sure he meant Crohn's-wise and it wasn't a comment on my personality.

I have gained a bunch of weight - which is lovely for me. It's not every girl who would appreciate friends and co-workers telling me I've put on some pounds but I get what they're saying. I have to admit I'm finding it strange to look in the mirror and see this girl who is gaining weight - it's totally a mental thing cause I'm thinking I must be close to getting double chins or something even though I'm far from. I've also started to try to eat very healthy - a lot of vegetables and stuff that I wasn't able to eat before, which is sad for my husband who is more of a meatitarian and figures that eating the animals that eat vegetables is good enough. I bought the book "You are what you Eat" by Dr. Gillian McKeith and it's wonderful and full of great tips and foods and that type of thing.

I've been feeling so good that we've decided to do a little trip to Banff. It will be my first foray out and about and is close enough to home (4 hours) that if anything happens it's not a big deal. During this trip I'll try swimming for the first time and we'll see how that goes. I purchased a lovely belt that attaches to my ostomy flange and helps to secure it around my waist for when I'm doing activities.

We've got a bit of a roll going on now with Chuck - I had not had a blow out for about three sessions...until last night. Stupid. I have to say Paul is awesome at changing the bed and helping me get cleaned up at 2 a.m. which is the usual time. Chuck can never be active at say 6 a.m. or even 5:30 a.m. It's always in the dead of night. Whatever.

I will continue to update as I try new activities and do new things. A couple of things I've learned from being out and about - public bathrooms aren't great but they're not so bad. Mainly because many of the toilets are quite a bit longer in the seat making it easier to sit back and empty the bag. It's difficult though because a lot of them don't have a surface to set my water bottle on that I use to rinse the bag. Oh funny story - I was at Earl's in St. Albert with Paul for supper and I was just finishing up in the bathroom and refilling the bottle of water I keep in my purse all the time and a lady walked in and filled up a spray bottle before heading into the stall. I looked over and said "so how long have you had your ostomy?" and she was stunned. I showed her my bottle in my hand and we had a little chat. This particular woman suffered from diverticulitis and it was a temporary ostomy for her. By the way it was just the two of us in the bathroom, I didn't call her out in front of a bunch of other ladies, or heaven forbid the scantily clad big boobed female staff.

Stay tuned to find out what swimming is like and why I think my tankini will be too small for me!