23/12/19 - Christmas week! Hi everyone, welcome back to Hazels attempt at a health blog! It’s been five days since I uploaded the blog and I cannot wait to give an update on all the latest things – especially the allergy testing on Friday which was nerve wracking for me.
Thursday – 19/12/19Today I saw my stoma nurse! Every week I see her, I’ve been trying to do a whole colostomy bag change when I’m with her. For me there’s a lot of psychological barriers of touching the stoma, because it’s kind of gross (right?). Anyway, the appointment usually goes on for about an hour as we go through the different leaks I’ve had in the week and so on. Annoyingly I experienced a leak whilst at college, it was a big kick in the teeth for me as it knocks my confidence a hell of a lot. I wish that the bag could essentially ‘behave’, if that’s even possible – I wish! My colostomy can fill up so quickly, I mean in less than five minutes I could be changing my bag for the second time which causes a lot of skin irritation and general discomfort for me. I have support at my college, so generally I phone for help when I need assistance with the bag change and somebody will deal with the gross side of it for me, which is super helpful to say the least. The support I receive at college is great thankfully.
Anyway, I got distracted with the worlds most annoying bag. Back to talking about the stoma appointment
At the appointment I finally TOUCHED the stoma AND fully cleaned it! (disclaimer: with a ton of gauzes behind my gloved fingers though, shush) It’s a big move for me as I’ve never been able to do this beforehand so I’m super elated with myself, I just wish I could do this every day. It seems such a simple task for some especially as its “just a stoma”, however, I’ve had my stoma for approximately six months, and this is a new achievement I suppose? Its time to celebrate!
After the appointment I went to pizza hut with a few friends during my college break – which is meant to be a study period, woops! I was quite stupid with what I ate; I decided to eat most of the salad options. Although, I am now experiencing the hardships of having a messed-up GI tract and suffering with a bowel blockage and on a ton of medications to try get it sorted to minimise a hospital trip! (fingers crossed) I am meant to be careful with fruits and vegetables with skins on them as my body cannot digest them like somebody else could, my GI tract is way too sensitive as well. This means that if I eat ‘too much’ of one thing my GI goes into an overload motion. Its an odd one. I did have to awkwardly peel of the cucumber skin whilst everyone was walking past as it’s a big no no for me, or anyone with an ostomy (it can differ from person to person though 😊 )
Friday – 20/12/19 One big stressful day for 1. I had my allergy testing’s done and god it was hectic! I have severe allergies to cats and dogs, as well as having an autoimmune disorder! This means that I could have a spontaneous anaphylaxis episode at any time for NO reason. It’s because of my immune system being too hyperactive and releasing too many mast cells and histamines when it thinks I’m having a severe allergic reaction (I’m still trying to understand it myself!) Hopefully once my letter comes through from the immunologist it will make more sense to me, I do regret not asking more questions at the appointment. God dammit. I must carry around epi pens 24/7 and antihistamines to take daily. Its quite scary from my perspective as it could suddenly happen and catch me off guard, there’s also a few triggers that I need to be aware of, these include: heat, stress, alcohol and misuse of drugs as you would expect. But I can still have a flareup spontaneously with no actual trigger.
Saturday & Sunday – 21-22/12/19Surprisingly nothing much happened over the weekend! I slept a lot as I’ve been exhausted, and fatigue likes to catch up on you when you least expect it! I went to a garden centre on Sunday to try get into the festive feeling, however, we had to cut that short as I ended up having a allergic reaction, which is quite frustrating again. Thankfully, I was able to get it under control by taking a hefty amount of histamines and steroid inhalers which I rely on a lot during these sorts of reactions. After the reaction I was pretty much zonked for the rest of the day, I’m feeling more human like today luckily!
Other interesting news for the weekIt’s finally Christmas eve eve! Does anyone else call this day that? Or just me oops. I’m looking forward to Christmas and hoping the blockage will ease before Christmas day, fingers crossed.
I’m off to watch Star Wars tomorrow so its an early set off in the morning to head off to try get a good seat haha. First task is to make sure I wake up early enough, good luck to me.
Attempted goals for the weekTo purchase a Medi-Alert bracelet before I start college and volunteering at the hospital – this is a must-buy!
Secondly, I’m going to attempt another bag change on my own or with very little assistance from my carer. I’m hoping I can start getting into the swing of dealing with an ostomy, I need some more independence!
Last but not least as it’s a little different, I’m going to try to create a revision timetable as I have my BTEC exams in January! I have done a lot of studies around both my units already, but its mainly consolidation at this stage.
That’s all for today, thanks again to everyone subscribing and following along with my blog!