Friends, Walk of hope and the Farm

Friends, Walk of hope and the Farm.

collette and lucy’s adventures

collette and lucy’s adventures.

hi everyone!

sorry i’ve been missing for so long!!!!

I attended the ostomy lifestyle training for running a support group, it was very interesting and informative!  I have opened the group up to guys as well!!!

a lot has been going on, two of our girls have had surgery to make there stomas permanent, another is having further surgery tomorrow!  My love goes out to all who have had or are having surgery!!  I’ve started going to the colostomy association support group in byker on a friday, they are a really nice group, ok guys your probably asking why?  well yes I have an ileostomy notr a colostomy but where I live the ileostomy association is no good, and in general i’ve not been too impressed with them!  The CA however are wonderful, and they don’t min d be being around, and like me think an ostomy is an ostomy!  I think they like the fresh young blood LOL!!!!

Since my last post i have yet again been out there!!!  I again went camping, done some stepping stone hopping resulting in falling on my bottom and getting wet, swimming, climbing, abseilling and toboggoning. I’m determined to get it out there that you can still do anything with an ostomy!  I plan on zip wiring off the tyne bridge next year, and am hoping to be apart of the clipper round the world yacht race in 2013, though money is a big issue!!! will need lots of sponsorship!!  I need some more challenges!  send your suggestions!!

I’m hoping top get some social events happening, i’m still working on a VIP fashion event, and want to have a meal out either before or after christmas.  i can’t run a social group alone, if we are to jump out of cyberspace  I need willing helpers.  i also need a way to reach people not online, and to help pair up people near to each other.

hope everyone is doing ok.  Speak soon xxxxx

 

donna

summer is nearly over!

It’s been and up and down sort of summer but it’s been a healthy one!  We haven’t really done anything, not gone away, or done anything exciting, but I was able to enjoy my kids and my husband.  i’m still new to being a stoma girl, still got lots of challenges but because I have my wonderful husband to support me I can do anything!  In two days I’ll be working a full day, and soon i’ll be starting a job as a school pastor 1 day a week.  Whenever I get down, I thank squirt for giving me my life back. My fellow stoma girls aren’t having the best of times, making decisions about surgery, waiting for surgery, trying to get somewhere with doctors over surgery, and some struggling with life and their stoma.  I will always be here for you guys!  My stoma may be young, and some have a lot more experience  but i have a big heart and you can sound of me or ask me to pray.  We all need each other, and through having squirt I’ve met some amazing stoma girls around the world.  Some a lot younger than me but wise beyond there years!  i love you all guys!

 

Decisions, and tears at bedtime!

ok, firstly after my experimenting on bags, sitting back analysing them, considering the pros and cons ( it’s the scientist in me! can’t help it!) i have decided to use a mixture of the eurotech bags for when i’m swimming and doing sporty type stuff, and using the microskin at other times!  I wasn’t sure if you could do this, so was willing to drop the microskin if needs be.  luckily you can use two different makes of bags! phew!  So on to delivery companies!  i was with a big company that used a seperate delivery firm, i never liked them! I love local! i don’t use supermarkets, i get all my fruit and veg from a farming cooperative which is big but also small at the same time.  i get it delivered every week, what i ask for, sometimes special little gifts added from my wonderful farmer, I know my delivery driver really well.  i wanted this sort of service with my bags!  i noticed friends who lived midlands and down south used small companies with there own delivery driver, i wanted this so went looking.  after the same sort of decisive sorting that I done with the bags, i found a nice local company with there own drivers, and a named member of staff who will deal with all my orders personally.  i like not being a number!  i pannicked when they couldn’t find my ‘swimming bags’ but she promised she’d sort it for me, 10 minutes later she rang me back to say she’d found them on the system, they’re a new product which is why she couldn’t find them earlier!  I get my first delivery from them next monday!  on to the subject of tears at bedtime!  i’ve been strong, maybe too strong, pretending that having an ostomy is nothing.  Yes i love my new life, crazy but true!  ok i would have preferred not to have had UC to begin with but I did,  so having UC or having the bag? no contest!  i found on a few occasions i’ve  just turned into a blubbering mess for no real reason.  A wise friend recently ttold me it’s kind of a greiving process, that kind of helped as i thought i was going nuts!!!  first time was a few weeks after my operation when a ‘friend’ commented on how fat i was looking that day!  first day out in skinny jeans and t-shirt!  had some tears, took a while to pull myself together.  Dealt with it by clearing out all my clothes which were no longer appropriate.  kept the jeans but was not keeping short t-shirts! Second time was beecause i wasn’t invited to a family get together because of my bag!  normally i’d have just said there loss! but it kind of got to me and I realised i couldn’t stop crying!  third time, a friend posted that she was going to a group meet for people with bowel problems, i got upset cause there was nothing like that up here up north!  I felt so alone!  so pulled myself together and set up notheast stoma girls!  anyway burst intotears the other night, i’d been feeling so good for ages, with the article, the fashion video  then just randomly read a conversation on facebook, some crohnie friends all decending on newcastle for the day to meet up they sounded so happy to be seeing each other, i longed for that, and for some stupid reason i just began to cry again!  i guess it’s wanting to be around people who understand so you don’t have to be super strong all the time.  it’s all silly cause i’ve got loads of wonderful friends and am gradually getting more local ostomates through the group.  I think it’s good to let the tears out and sometimes you need silly little things to turn the tap on!  Back to my usual happy self quite quickly, and ralised I’d not done anything about the ‘family’ situation, sso made a stateement on facebook about coming out of the toilet!  and then deleted the lot of them!  I’m always hard on myself, crying over nothing is weak, especially when there’s people out there whose lives are a lot worse, but keeping it in is probably not good.  So let it out, pick yourself up and then get on with livong and loving life!

Bags, my experiences and opinions part 2

This gallery contains 5 photos.

I have suffered and experimented on your behalf to bring this second installment of my blog on bags!  Hope it helps you. As mentioned in part 1 these are my personal experiences, you might have different experiences. Braun softima 1 piece The flange was good on this bag.  lasted 2 days before beginning to come [...]

5 minutes of fame! and fashion video!

you were probably expecting part two of the bags – well that is coming soon!  I’m still experimenting!

This week has been a whirlwind!  My local paper rang me wanting to do a piece on living with ulcerative colitis, and northeast stoma girls.  potographer came and spent ages taking photographs!  I hate having my photo taken!  yesterday the article was in the paper!  My 5 minutes of fame!

the article can be found at  http://www.journallive.co.uk/north-east-news/todays-news/2011/08/01/helping-north-east-victims-of-bowel-illnesses-61634-29153863/

Also this weekend I WENT OUT TO A PARTY in a lovely dress bought by my mum! It was nice seeing friends that I’d not seen in a long time – very emotional!  i had a great day out at the airshow, not having to worry about queues for portaloos!  and just to continue proving squirt doesn’t hold me back, i went on a red arrows flight simulator and got thrown around.  entered a competition to wing walk.  I’d love to do that! i’ll not win but if you don’t enter you’ll have no chance.

I completed the fashion video! a huge thank you to all my wonderful osto ‘mates’ who allowed me to use there photos, you made it look fab!  it’s on you tube at  http://youtu.be/hFPZKIeHgVo

 

Bags, my experiences and opinions, part 1

I went to an open day where lots of companies were displaying there products.  i sent off for lots of samples to try and find my ‘perfect’ bag!  these are my personal experience of trying them.  Everyone is different so you may like a bag that i don’t.  A bag that react on my skin [...]

first week of summer holidays!

Ok, if you have school age kids, you will get my point!!!  it is the first week of the summer holidays and i’m already exhausted!  All I can say is thank you squirt!!!!  last summer was awful!  BEING SO ILL AND HAVING TWO KIDS PESTERING CONSTANTLY!!!!!  Hope your first week of the ‘summer’ has gone well!

Last week I went to an open day for ostomists!  It was the first one I’ve been too, I didn’t know what to expect!  I was wanting to change delivery company as I really don’t like my current company.  Came away from the day with a splitting headache due to all the ‘sales’ teams pestering, and very confused and still not changed to a different company!  On a postive side Iwon a box of chocolates and requested loads of samples which have been steadily arriving in the post.  my next  few posts will have  pictures and my personal comments on these bags.  Everyone has different likes and dislikes when it comes to bags.  feel free to leave your opinions on them!

Whilst i was walking around I spoke to one ‘sales rep’ who asked me what I enjoy doing, when I told her I normally do a lot of sports including watersports she jumped into sales mode and recomended one of her bags, obviously I’ll go in more depth later but I was scepticle of her claims, that was until I used it to go swimming with the kids!

So apart form boring sales reps, the rest of the week has been full of swimming, walking, and trying to keep the kids entertained.  I’ve also been working on the fashion video.  i still need pictures from willing people!!! So again I’m asking PLEASE!!!!

Ostomy lifestyle are sending me on there training course nuts and bolts of running and organising a group.  THE COURSE IS IN SEPTEMBER.  My stoma nurse  liked the idea of the group, I’m hoping the numbers will continue to grow steadily so that eventually we can get out of cyberspace and hold some fun days (and possibly some nights) out.  so far we have the VIP fashion day with bon marche, but i also like the idea of a day out in scarborough, to meet up with our yorkshire members, and so I can reminisce!  I live there for a few years and married my husband there! THAT WAS SO LONG AGO!!!!

Lots of love

Donna xxxxx

combatting the heat and vip fashion day!

It’s been a hot day!  I’m still learning!  We have to drink lots to stop becoming dehydrated, but we also have to keep output thick.  Well, I drank a lot but as for the second, hmm! I guess it’s an excuse to eat loads of marsh mallows!!  On a positive note  i’ve managed to get the group a vip fashion event with vouchers from bon marche.  OK, not my first choice! my mum shops there! I’m trying to fight getting old, I’m still young!  ( I keep telling myself that)  They do have an ok range of clothes and they were very supportive on what styles etc are best.  all i have to do now – get some more members, and find a venue to have the fashion event.  hopefully the event will help with my fashion blog!  Hopefully, the stoma nurses will help get some members and it’s the ostomist day at st james park next week.  Better get started on making some flyers to publicise the group.