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.
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