Love your Stoma

Do you have a stoma now?  If so that is great and you should try your best to love it.  I mean it, you are probably more healthy now that you have one and are on the way to living a great life.  I find that instead of being sad or angry about having a little extra work every day that you should love your stoma.  The more you accept who you are the faster you can go out and have an amazing time living life.  I have found that using my stoma for my advantage in life has brought about a lot of joy.  One of the things that I love doing is being outdoors.  The nature, and the peace that comes with the great outdoors give me joy.  I also love to go out and provide for my family while enjoying the things that I love.  Hunting has simply become part of my life and I was first worried my stoma would keep me from being able to be successful but I was certainly wrong.

 

The one area that I feared the most that I would lose after my surgery was my ability to enjoy the outdoors and be active in it.  This would mean that I would no longer be able to hunt throughout the year.  This was indeed a fear that was unfounded because I found that my newly found ostomy bag was something that I could use to my advantage. 

 

Now first, I want to go over the fact that being active outdoors and hunting can be very physical.  It is actually a sport and can come with some very demanding physical requirements.  O first make sure to consult your doctor and make sure you are capable of doing it first before just going out.  This could avoid getting injured.  Now, most people are fully capable of active sports after they train and get ready for it, but just make sure your doctor thinks it is safe.

 

Once you are ok to go out and enjoy the woods or fields or mountains then you should learn to love your stoma.  I found that the ability to not have to go to the bathroom in the normal fashion helped me astronomically while hunting.  Now I no longer had to leave the field in order to go number two.  This was also my biggest fear at first and that was that the smell of my ostomy bag would keep me from being successful.  There are several different ways to work in this area.

The first thing you can do is take a pill that will lower the scent of your stool.  It is a really cool product but not the only way to eliminate sent.  YOu can also get a spray or drops that you can put in your ostomy bag to eliminate smell as well. But I find that it is also important to use regular scent blocking hunting gear as well.  I normally use one to two layers of scent blocking clothing on top of my ostomy bag and it has done me well.  I have not found it a hindrance at all.

 

So I hope you are able to love yourself and your stoma.  I found that it helped me in my passion and didn't hinder me at all. Hope these tips help!