**note there are pictures in this blog that may be uncomfortable to see**
So - the year that I had my total colectomy, I also had to have an ileostomy bag for 7 months.
For those of you who may not know what this entails:
They removed all three feet of my large intestine (a quick 6 pound weight loss), along with the attached appendix, but left a small 'cuff' at the very bottom - intended for an eventual reconnection. Then they took the last small section of the small intestine, brought it completely out of the stomach cavity, folded it over itself (like the cuff of a sleeve) then sutured it to the skin. This means that the opening of the intestine is on the outside of the body - it's called a 'stoma'. Then a type of medical 'bag' is placed overtop with a type of skin adhesive, and that is where the contents go, is in the bag.
I had bad luck when it came to my ileostomy bag. I was allergic to the adhesive that kept the bag firmly onto my skin. So it was either massive welts all over my stomach ... Or a bag that had to be replaced constantly.
What the ileostomy bag did do for me is that my Ulcerative Colitis was 95% removed... Only the small cuff at the bottom that was leftover still has the active disease of Colitis. And since I didn't develop Pouchitis or Crohn's disease until AFTER the reconnection surgery, apart from the Mono that I got during this time, the intestinal pain was very much reduced. :).
I had such a hate-on for the bag though that I didn't snap very many pictures of it. Normally I am so fascinated with all of my crazy weird medical issues that I like to document things that happen, but I actually only have the following two pictures of my ileostomy bag - and this was the day before surgery to have my small intestine reconnected with the leftover cuff!
I remember thinking that they should be manufacturing brightly colored ileostomy bags, maybe some fun patterns - but they (I believe) are still all nude. I just think that battle scars are important - and if someone is going to have to deal with something that can be deemed as utterly embarrassing, why not make it fun???
I would LOVE to see an ileostomy bag in neon pink or neon green - kinda like they do with casts!!
So that's me - 17 years old and about two-three months before grade 12 graduation. I had actually taken my spares in that final semester to work around the surgical schedule.
:)