Hello everybody! You're all invited to the lounge for a birthday party. Serving time is a now until you get there for some chocolate cake hope you have a good time. See the following picture.

I have had a number of people question me as to why I would celebrate the arrival of something as horrible as my stoma. And so I felt I should take a moment and explain. One year ago today I wish I knew the time , it was in the late afternoon I awoke in the recovery room of Holy Family Hospital. I did not know when I went into surgery what was going to be done for sure. But when I awoke the first thing I saw was a nurse changing the appliance for my ostomy. I was taken aback as I had never seen an ostomy before and knew nothing about them. All I knew was that I now had a hole in my side with a plastic bag attached. The first thoughts that afternoon that ran through my mind "I can't do it. I cannot live my life this way. I don't want to be different. People will laugh at me". And I knew that I couldn't handle it at that point and that I didn't even want to try! Now one year later I look at how much things have changed. No one laughs at me, I can do anything that I put my mind to do. My life has not substantially changed although yes there have been some issues with learning some new things I need to do. Why the change? First I want to thank Eric for this website for the encouragement the ideas the understanding and the teaching. He was one of the first who showed me that I could do whatever I wanted to do that my life had not changed in that respect. And then with a good Dr, good nurses, good family good friends, and I mean a lot of good friends on veganostomy and a lot of friends in my circle at home. So the reason for the cake a celebration of life and the fact that life goes on and it's still really good. Thank you all for your friendship and for your advice and for your encouragement. Barbara