I feel like a NINJA!

I was tossing around the idea of getting a second tattoo - I already have a tramp stamp (a tattoo on my lower back). It's my name in Korean and I love it. I had always wanted a tattoo but struggled with where to put it and what to put there and didn't actually make a decision until I was 25 years old.

The other day Paul and I were chatting about a mutual acquaintance who had to go in for a colonoscopy - routine check up kind of thing.

Now in my 11 plus years of illness I have had a LOT of colonoscopies, sigmoidoscopies, throat scopes, barium swallows you name it. And I'm sure I'm not completely out of the woods yet - but one thing I do know. Unless I decide to get plumbing reattached I will never ever have to get a colonoscopy again!

I mean, a doctor would be able to see everything he needed with a bright flashlight. And then it hit me, if I were to get another tattoo I would get it on my butt and it would look like this:

So - onto my posting about my newest piece of ostomy equipment.

Now that I'm working out five days a week and the weather is getting warmer and I like to swim - I was searching the Internet for some kind of ostomy belt that would not stretch and would allow me to do all the things I want to be able to do but provide more security than the thin fabric belts you can buy at medical supply stores.

TA DA! Announcing the STEALTH BELT.

The stealth belt was developed by a guy in the states who had surgery much like myself and then found that he couldn't participate in his favorite water sports due to the limitation of the thin cloth belt we were just talking about.

So now this guy hand makes these awesome belts out of swimsuit material and you can order them from him on E-Bay. My $85 CAD purchase has arrived and although I haven't swam with it I can say that I'm feeling much more secure when playing baseball or going to the gym. the belt doesn't stretch, it's very comfortable and it covers my ostomy so well that if my shirt pulls up a little bit while I'm doing these physical activities all people see is a band of black fabric. Freakin' genius.

I still haven't figured out how to roll up my pouch and have it secured in a little zippered pocket - I think it's because I haven't gone swimming yet and so I haven't been wearing my short swimming pouches which would probably fit better.

And stealth belt just makes me feel all secret agent! Like a ninja only better cause I don't need bathroom breaks!

It's also a god send in terms of privacy. If my swimsuit or shirt pulls up it isn't immediately noticeable that I am wearing some kind of medical device.

On a side note we just had air conditioning installed in the house. During the cool winter months I was getting five or six days of wear out of my equipment easily. We had a sudden heat wave here a couple of weeks ago with temperatures reaching the 30's for one day and blam - none of my appliances are really interested in sticking to my sweaty tummy at night. So we sucked it up and had central air conditioning installed. I'm hoping it helps me get better wear out of my equipment since I won't be as hot at night and therefore not as sweaty and also not tossing around as much. Plus it's just awesome to have air conditioning in the house but I could honestly say we probably would have put it off for another year if it weren't for these ostomy flanges and the issues they were causing in the heat.

So since my summer will continue on in a wonderfully normal fashion I have decided my next blog posts (probably this coming weekend) will be a quick traipse through when I first got sick, diagnosis and all that fun stuff. It's all fine to say look at me - I had surgery! But I know a lot of people may be wondering how I got here. And if you're not interested...well read my blog anyway darn it.