surgery were in an effort to prevent a total proctocoletomy. If I had the chance to do it all
over again, I would have had the proctocolectomy a lot sooner. You hope and pray that a
medicine will be discovered that will help; that will alleviate the pain and your symptoms.
I even thought “what if my colon is removed and then they find the cure, or a miracle
drug?”. All of this will go through your mind and went through mine because this surgery
was final -- absolutely no going back. Meanwhile, quality of life is diminishing and/or
gone. I didn’t realize the impact this disease had on the quality of my life until after my
last surgery. After I had my surgery, there was absolutely no way I would want to go back.
I made the best decision.
Do what you have to do to regain control of your life. Don’t live in torture if you don’t
have to.
Dressing with an ostomy can be difficult, especially for
people that are used to dressing a certain way and being
able to get away with it. Our FashOstomy advisor, Gaylyn of
Gutless and Glamorous, is here to help.
Gaylyn’s Jeggings = Jeans + leggings. Along with leggings,
these are her favorite go to pieces that help her to feel
comfortable while still looking fashionable. “Believe it or
not, my daily routine getting dressed with an ostomy has not
changed much. However, I can say that now after 5 years
of having an ostomy. When I first had ostomy surgery, I only
wore leggings and shirts that were long enough to cover the
ostomy. Luckily that was the style,” says Gaylyn.
“Now, 5 years later. I wear what
I want! You will learn what works
best for you. You will learn how
your ostomy works and what you
can and can not wear.”
In order to best prepare for a new clothing style with your
ostomy, begin wearing clothes that you know will work. Longer,
bigger t-shirts (a size up from norm works great), leggings,
and if you’re in colder area big, loose fitted sweaters are not
only in style, they work great! Gaylyn also has some excellent
advice for those that have just recently had the operation:
“If you have had surgery very recently, very loose clothing is
probably best. As you adjust, your body is adjusting as well.”
Though many patients would like to believe there is any easy
choice color wise, Gaylyn reminds us that though there are
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