Slightly perturbed at present. Having ileostomy issues and I’m not sure why.
My stoma has always dipped on one side since my surgery. I’m down with that. So I use convex wafers to keep the one side from leaking. No biggie.
Two days ago I felt an excruciating pain beneath my bag. I took my bag off to investigate. I guessed that the barrier had closed around the stoma and that nothing could get through. Not so. Output is normal. However, I discovered a strange new phenomena: my stoma practically dips back into my abdomen now which triggers the onset of the pain. I don’t understand why. The peristomal skin isn’t irritated or raw. The pain is significantly less than it was two days ago. I’m not eating anything out of the ordinary. I’m not doing anything out of the ordinary. It couldn’t be the way I’m sleeping…could it? I’ve been sleeping on my side again. I wonder if it’s possible that I injured it in my sleep. I tried to talk to my ostomy nurse (forget the surgeon’s nurse) and find out if I should be concerned. Of course the typical response…”I can’t help you, dear, I’m sorry. You really need to get insurance.” She laughed like it was some big joke. I thought of all people, she would be on my side. I mean she was cool enough to give me the note for my trip to Florida. I assumed the least she could do was answer a stupid question to extinguish my mounting concerns. She had the nerve to ask me if I was still getting ostomy supplies all right! It was my turn to laugh then and told her I’d been paying for it through the nose for the last four months! Not even the ostogroup website has what I use anymore! I threw my phone across the room. Oops. Can you blame me though?
In the meantime, I’ve been sucking it up and going about my normal routine. Work. Eat. Sleep. What else can I do? Besides, it’s not all that bad anymore. Or maybe I’m growing accustomed to the pain. Maybe I’m just being a sissy. Ha ha ha. Who knows???
I just gotta keep moving forward. Epic overanalyzation is my specialty. Gotta kick the habit.
Hope everyone is well! Best of health!
