J
Jenni
Guest
Wellllll...I had my first surgery on September 1st. It was supposedto be my only surgery, but they had to end up doing an ileostromy.While in the hospital after surgery I was really weak and had to have two blood transfusions because I was white as a ghost and had lost so much blood.I remember waking up and the first thing I said to my parents was"do I have a bag?" they avoided the question so much that I knew i had one. I moaned and went back to sleep. When I woke up again my mother was crying and they were signing a release form to do transfusions, and I asked my parents if I was going to die. but luckily it was all ok and I left the hospital doign fine.I had the ileostomy for 8 weeks. It was a difficult situation for many reasons. The day I left the hospital they rushed me threw the process of showing me how to work the bag etc. and I was worried about getting the hang of it, and as I predicted it was anythign but easy. I have a natural crease on my stomach where the bag is supposed to stay, and because of that lovely deal the bag would leak out of that spot a lot. I ended up changing it almost everyday for 8 weeks. My skin went threw heck, I was so depressed, I was self conscieous abotu it and told no one I even had one except my boy friend.Otherwise it was my big secret. It was so hard on my skin, I would sit there trying to get it off crying because it would tear my skin or be irritated and red.But I got threw it, realizing how much worse it could have been, but I think the main reason it was so hard was because I had convinced myself that I would not have a bag. I should have prepared myself, but I eventually accepted the whole thing. The week before my next surgery however,things were not looking so bright. I began feeling soooooooooo sick, and I couldnt keep anything down,so I wouldnt eat, and even though I wasnt eating my ileostomy seemed to be pouring thigns out like crazy. Well I went to see my surgeon, who told me if by the next day I couldnt keep things down, I most likely had a blockage and would need to go to the hospital. Well the next morning, my mom woke me up and I went in the bathroom to empty my bag. Well for some reason I didnt lock the door and my mom heard a loud crash and started beating on the door, but when I didnt answer she barged in to find me passed out on the bathroom floor. WHen I woke up I had no idea what had happened, but I had hit the bathtub when I fell and my back was all swollen, and there was "stuff" everywhere because I fell before I could empty my bag. Well needless to say, they made me go to the hospital. I got their tuesday and wasnt allowed to leave until friday, because I was extremely sick and by wednesday night my temperature was upto 103 and they could not get it down lower for a day or two. thigns were not looking good, and they had no idea if they would be able to do surgery or not. but i got out friday, and they carried out my tests on tha next monday and did surgery on wednesday as predicted. everythign went well, but being on the pediatric floor, i had three different roomates all under the age of twelve and they were all really mean and rude! haha.well i was out of the hospital by that saturday, and actually went to church the next morning. at first I was nausios alot and threwup quite frequently. Then I went from going to the bathroom like 8 times, to like 15 times and there was blood...well i was really worried. I mean seriously there wasnt sposed to be blood and i wasnt supposed to go that much! well i called the surgeon because i was also having problems with burning, and i made the mistake of drinking a strawberry smoothie which made me siiiiiiiiiick. well they confirmed that i had pouchitis which really isnt a bad thing. it means that my "j-pouch" or the loop they made with my small intestine is working so well, tht my body actually thinks its my colon. but it was puttin the bacteria ur colon needs in the pouch and the pouch couldnt handle it so i was sick. well i told the doctor that i could not take flagyl, but the prescribed that anyway, but my parents wont let me take that because last time i was violently ill wen i took that. so they gave me something else, which was not much better because i threw up like everyday.I am now off of that medicine and feeling alot better, but even so it is still an adjustment.I went to the mall last week, and I am really skinny so I was trying on new clothes and I found this really cute red sweater to wear with a new dress I had bought. so i tried the sweater on, and not thinking that it came just past my chest walked out of the dressing room and couldnt find my mom. well there was a group of girls standing their and suddenly they were all staring at my stomach,pointing and looking and giving me looks like i was a freak. i ran bak in the dressing room on the verge of tears,only then realizing my scars. i was done labroscopicly so i dont have many scars. i have four, one right abouve my belly button,one where the ileostomy was, one where they had the "grenade" as they called it, and a low one where they removed my colon from. it kind of looks like a smileyface, and even though they all looked at me like i was a freak, im proud of my scars. They are apart of me, and in fact my boyfriend thinks they are adorable, and he was not so happy that they did that.but anywayz i am doin alot better, im healthier, and am off prednizone and all other meds.
well thats all
Jen
well thats all
Jen