Face the sunshine

I'm supporting the 'Colostomy UK' 50K challenge which aims to prove that having a stoma is not a barrier to being active by inviting people with stomas to do a variety of activities that count towards an overall 50,000KM over a 6 month period. People can walk, jog, run, climb, swim or cycle any number of metres and can also raise funds for the charity through sponsorship. I'm already trying to be fairly active and the reason I started this blog was to show people that you can live a healthy and active lifestyle when you have a stoma so this challenge was something I was keen to get involved with. After registering I was sent a pack which contained a 50K challenge t shirt that I could wear when exercising to help raise awareness and a pedometer to track my progress. I'll then log any activity on the Colostomy UK website which can be done daily, weekly or monthly. There's a live counter on the website that shows the total of KM travelled so far by every...

The photo on the right was taken just before my one year stomaversary (anniversary of having a stoma) and the one on the left was taken by a friend about a year before. I know how long it can take for the side effects of steroids to wear off and I have a full on 'moon-face' in the left photo as I was still taking lots of steroids and had been on them for a long time. Although horrified at first when the photo on the left popped up on a Facebook timeline from a 'year ago today' I was actually pleased to see it as I felt in comparison to recent photos, I am looking a lot better/healthier. I feel that my hair is a lot thicker, healthier and is able to grow and I just generally feel better in myself. It's great to have photographic evidence to show me how much the steroids had affected me and to see how far I have come in a year as I think sometimes it's easy to forget just how poorly we have been/how much we can go through with Crohns or Ulcerative Colitis. A...

I recently celebrated my '1 year stomaversary' of my second permanent stoma and got a bit emotional thinking of all the things I am now able to do thanks to modern medicine and the surgical techniques that formed my stoma. Since having my stoma I've been paddleboarding, taken part in an aquathlon, started jogging and completed my first 10K. None of these are particularly ground-breaking for a lot of people but I find that I need to do more than a 'normal' person to stay fit and to get back to my pre-surgery weight/body I was happy with. I know that part of this is age but also that I am not absorbing all the goodness from foods that a 'normal' person with a functioning colon would be. The one year has flown by and I'm grateful on a daily basis that my stoma is enabling me to live an active lifestyle.

I carry a small emergency supply kit with me in case I needed to do a bag change.  I use a Cath Kidston gadget case which is an ideal size for everything I need and looks like a cosmetics case in my handbag.  Here's what's in my supply kit: SenSura Mio pre-cut bag so I don't have to carry scissors around with me or cut a bag if I had a leak Brava remover wipes to help get the old bag off my skin Black bags to dispose of waste items Cavilon barrier wipes to ensure the new bag adheres to my skin Stomahesive paste Brava elastic tape to help increase wear time of my bag A Radar key in case I use a disabled toilet A Dioralyte sachet in case I ever feel dehydrated I always have Andrex wet wipes in my handbag and although not ideal to use directly on the skin around your stoma, I would make do with these in an emergency and have a good clean of the area and ensure it wasn't too sore when back home.