Note: this post will cross many readers' TMI threshold. Continue reading at your own risk.
As I've mentioned previously, my cancer treatment included a colostomy. That's the procedure where they remove part of your colon, then attach what's left to a hole they've opened in the wall of your abdomen, because what's left isn't long enough to reach your ass. You eliminate waste through this hole, or stoma, into a bag attached to your skin with adhesive. The process goes 24/7; you no longer have any control over when you shit.
But even more curious is that after the procedure, you still fart.
I am more intimately acquainted with my farting now than I ever was before the surgery. I know that by volume, I fart far more than I shit. When I fart, my colostomy bag suddenly expands like a puffer fish.
When I was in the hospital recovering from my surgery, the nurses showed me how to 'burp' my bag. But it's something you definitely want to do in a well-ventilated space.
Like a national park, maybe.
Because for some reason, bag farts smell worse than normal free range farts. 'Way worse. I mean a couple of orders of magnitude worse.
Even after my chemo is done, I will still be bagging it. That will be for the rest of my life. Sometimes these are reversible, but not in my case. Too much was cut out.
If I was still thirty years old, I'd be really distraught about this, I think. But at this stage in my life, it's not as big a deal.
6 comments:
can't believe you posted this! Good for you. The reality of what you are going thru is a good reminder to others to get their colonoscopy sooner than later! Love ya! Your cohort in crime! Wishing you were not dealing with this, but glad I have been there when I could!!!
Rena
I'm glad your posting here. FB is good for some things but it doesn't inspire introspection.
You're farting more and more odiferously because your food isn't being processed as thoroughly by your body. Do you know how much of your colon was removed and what part of your colon was removed? That will actually have a bearing on this.
I think you're wonderful, by the way. What you're going through is very, very tough and you are handling it with amazing grace.
I don't know exactly how much they took, but it was most of it. My surgeon told me I would not be a candidate for the 'drop down' reattachment.
The tumor was the size, he said, "of a small orange." The surgery took about two hours more than he had scheduled.
This is not a topic I would generally be reading about! But somehow I found your blog when I was looking at comments about the dharmamatch website.
You're incredibly open and good-spirited about a really tough, tough thing to deal with.
Best to you and thanks for sharing, I think! ;-) kidding!
~MiZBee~ ♥♫☮♥♫
Thank you. Thank you. I've had a colostomy for two months and am horrified at some of the things that you don't think about until it happens to you. Yeah - colostomy farts - and being isolated and not letting people close because you're afraid your bag is going to leak...keeping the opposite sex at arm's length because it's hard to feel romantic with a hot bag of s*&t against your thigh...somebody should write a book...maybe if we can laugh about it and be honest about things you can't usually bring up in most company. How bout the name "Belly Farts"?
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