The top of my old bedroom dresser used to hold a beautiful wooden bowl our son Matt turned on a lathe, an antique oil lamp, a wooden jewelry box, a fun red tea tin used as a coin bank, and a small double frame holding separate photos of Bill and me as 2-year olds.
Since early March, it has become my colostomy care center. Supplies sent by different companies through home healthcare piled up and Bill needed to spread it all out to learn what is needed for weekly care. He’s actually an excellent nurse!
I wasn’t sure if I wanted to post this; having an ostomy bag feels embarrassing. But it actually saved my life so why not? The tumor caused a blockage with perforation spreading infection into my abdominal cavity. The ostomy allowed that to be cleared up, paving the way to healing.
And the good news is the surgeon, after examining me this past month, says he will be able to reattach everything back together when he removes whatever is left of the tumor after chemo and radiology. This is only temporary! I once knew a lady in Kansas who was stuck with living with an ostomy bag the rest of her life and I sure didn’t want to go through that!
I have so many things to be thankful for.
It is good that you have captured it on the page so that you can have this on the page if you ever need/want to revisit this. I don't revisit my hospital pages much, It was very important at the time to sketch daily and capture the moment. It proved to me (and my family) that I was still me and wanted to sketch everyday. It is an extra step to share it . Thank you. That is great news from the surgeon. Thinking of you when I read these posts.
ReplyDeleteAt first, I felt too embarrassed about the colostomy to let people know about it. But I decided to share my cancer story online in the hope of encouraging others — and I suppose that means sharing things like this as well.
DeleteI like and identify with what you said about our sketching proving to us and our family that we are still who we are. It somehow keeps us balanced in an unexpected, unknown territory. 📕📝🖋️🎨🖌️