Absolutely, don't let those boys slack. Dust dust dust and Evermore dust.

You're far more ambitious than I am with regard to first anniversary of our surgery. I still haven't named mine (something acceptable in society anyway), but I'll be darned if I'm going to bake her a cake! 

Posted by: Zvitusk

Changing the subject,  I,  yesterday, paid an old debt of gratitude. 

The story goes like this :

When I moved from Houston to Louisville, KY,  in 1976. I had to move with a Uhaul trailer behind my 11 year old clunker. It was packed to the gills. To make a 1000+ km story short,  I had a flat tire in the Ozark mountains.  I needed to fix it.  I rolled to a stop at the side of the super highway. Got out and saw the trouble. 

I raised up my hands and cried out," God help me ".

30 seconds later, this big bad Buick pulled up behind me and a real Redneck got out. Big intimidating fellow with a porkpie hat . A Redneck. 

He asked me,"son, what's the problem? "

I answered, "sir, I have a flat tire".

Not saying another word, he turned and went to the trunk of his car, opened it and picked up something.  He walked back to me and handed me a can of Flat Fix. I was astounded,  to say the least.

I pulled out my wallet and wanted to pay for the can. 

He said ,NO, SON, YOU CANNOT PAY ME, YOU HAVE TO PASS IT ON! And he left.

This episode  (which I am typing with 1 finger,  so it is highly edited) taught me to show my appreciation of the goodness that I received by passing it on to the NEXT p er son. It is a debt of honor that must be paid.

When I got my stoma,  I had a rough time. My wound was seeping under the wafer, I used 14 wafers in 2 days.  A friend of my daughter helped me with supplies and show and tell.  He helped me till I was readmitted to the hospital for dehydration.

Took a long time to lick the problem,  including firing Rhonda the incompetent WOCN . 

Yesterday,  I paid my debt to my daughter's friend.  I helped a young woman with her problems with Ostomy bags. She had the hospital issued El-Cheapo  clear ,one piece bag with the clip. Every night it would burst on her. She was stuck in Rehab because she was a mess. And the bag was not helping. 

I brought her a supply of Convetac moldable wafers with opaque bags that have velcro closures.  Along with the other items needed to get a stoma properly dressed. 

I talked her through the process. She wasn't able to get it , so we brought in the aide and we were able to put it on properly.  

She wanted to thank me , but I said,"PASS IT ON ". 

She did like the story , which I took my time telling . 

• I hope you guys liked it , too.

This is awesome Z.  It's also one of the reasons I joined the site.  I remember being that newbie to the ostomy world, and not having tons of support.  If I can help, or offer advise to anyone, I feel I owe that to both myself and to them.

Felicity I carry one of the trash bags that comes in the box with my bags that Hollister supplies and some wet wipes in a sandwhich bag and a couple pieces of TP in my pocket . Trash bag for emergencies TP n wet wipes for taking care of emptying when out n about . But pack of supplies in car just in case long as I don't forget it .

Z or maybe I should call you Mr. T :-) . Cheers to you my friend for helping the girl I'm sure she was very grateful and happy you were there . And for me still anyplace where there is a lot of people all using the loo at the same time still makes me a little nervous  .

I grew up in a house that had one bathroom. When my brother wanted to finish the chapter,  you were out of luck.

We were lucky. We had 3 bathrooms. Granted nobody wanted to use the basement one. Old unfinished basement, lots of spiders and oddly barely enough head clearance. It was wedged under a stairway. When James and I looked at homes our deal breaker was it had to have two bathrooms, could be a full and a half as long as there were two toilets.

Barbara, how r u dong these days??????????? we haven't heard fro you-- whats u girl??  Hope your doing better.. miss ya.............. 

John are you out there ? Haven't seen you here lately . Hope you and your wife are doing alright .

Hey! 

Have you seen the "Coloplast care" program yet. Seems interesting in the attempt. 

is there a connection or corelation between IBD and RA ?

My joints are in pain. I take naproxen and ibuprofen on a daily basis and I have been warned not to .

Z.. those drugs are harmful to your kidneys!! so the less the better.. also for the intestines..  I am finding out so much lately..  IF I can handle the pain, then don't take these.. Dr. told me.. Wait until I really need something... IT helps if something big of drug use must be taken..

Good Morning Guys n Gals

Hey what ever happened to the Rose pins we were talking about awhile back ? I don't know how to do that kinda thing or where to get them but I thought it was a good idea . I wear a cap almost everywhere I go and I would wear it on that like we had said to see our fellow ostomates .

Barbara is in charge of those remember?  Where is she anyways???????? 

I will check for them Robert..

Hope u all enjoy this, as it is so true that we do carry the white paper.

A surprise test was  given to students.  It contained a blank white page with a black dot in the middle.. The teacher asked the students to write what they see----as the teacher read each answer out loud.. as he received the same response:  They wrote about the black dot that they were focusing on.. the health issues, money that we need to have, the luxuries we DON'T have, complications and disappointments of family and friends etc.  

You need to realize that the dark spot on the white paper is very small, yet we pollute our minds with this dark spot.

We all have in our lives a white paper with a black dot in the middle. 

Take your eyes away from the small black spots in your life.  Enjoy each one of your blessings and each moment that life gives you.. The  miracles that we do see right away..And you will find the black dot is really VERY small. :-) 

C.B./Marcie.

Linda, This pernicious anemia is often found in the Swedish people/Northern Europe/ and most colder areas..  That is why I was shocked by when the Dr. asked me my  heritage.. ?? The Dr. next door to me knew that I was seeing Doctors all over and told me about this  blood  Dr. (my neighbor was a back seurgon) Took a 24 hour test.. peeing and b-12 and nuclear shot collect pee- etc.. And a re-peat.......in 6 weeks.  To make sure I have this.. I was rather weak and tired but just kept going with two little boys? what else??? So I had this for many years..It took me a good year to feel some what normal-but as always I get sick real bad and don't realize what a  normal really is.. Like my arrival of Nellie here.. That was a surprise.. What ever......

You are SO correct. 

Maybe, that is why we are afraid that others will find out about our Ostomy . We want them to see the 99% that we are the same and to ignore the 1% that we are different. 

People don't work like that. UNFORTUNATELY. 

I was never a conformist  so I can see the 99%.  I try to develop friendships by not considering 1%. 

Thanks , Marcie , for raising that point.

Posted by: Marcie

Linda, This pernicious anemia is often found in the Swedish people/Northern Europe/ and most colder areas..  That is why I was shocked by when the Dr. asked me my  heritage.. ?? The Dr. next door to me knew that I was seeing Doctors all over and told me about this  blood  Dr. (my neighbor was a back seurgon) Took a 24 hour test.. peeing and b-12 and nuclear shot collect pee- etc.. And a re-peat.......in 6 weeks.  To make sure I have this.. I was rather weak and tired but just kept going with two little boys? what else??? So I had this for many years..It took me a good year to feel some what normal-but as always I get sick real bad and don't realize what a  normal really is.. Like my arrival of Nellie here.. That was a surprise.. What ever......

I have pernicious anemia and I am Inca . Lol 

I tend to be one of the ones who actually tries to conceal my ostomy I guess I wanna be the 99% normal and not seen as the 1% . Like you said Z I try to look at people the way they are but unfortunately not all people do that .

I joke that mid 30's I stopped giving a fig for looking "normal", that as a lady getting towards a certain age I did not have to care what others think. I have always trended towards vintage clothing and artistic/ bohemian style, this has not changed. I got my hair cut in a mohawk, colored it all the fun colors I wanted to. I wore what made me happy, embroidered my favorite overcoat.

I am sure when the art festival I usually attend in May comes around I might be letting Oscar hang out in his nice pouch covers if it is warm. All my friends in that community are pretty aware of what happened to me. For those that are not I won't mind answering and being an ambassador for Ostomies and Crohns. As a whole they are body positive, accepting and enabling of those normally called disabled.

I like Nellie and her dress hidden as much as possible.. Elastic waist skirt, pants, dress's that I can hang a belt and a ho-bo purse to hide the dress (Nellies) while walking.. I will have my son take pictures of I do with those. 

Waiting for "the call" from the makers of Gattex soon.. Talked a bit with her this morn. Was into a real sales pitch-- I told her that "it was as if she was trying to sell me life insurance for my cat.. :-)" I will have Tom on the other end.. Told her I was off to infusion and to call me back after 4 p.m. She really wanted me to get "that paper signed" Asked her to send it to me.. No fast sigintures for me on this.. $$$$$$$ I don't have all my ducks in a row yet either...... quack quack..