This time of year is a really fun time. I love the holidays and all the fun that comes with them. There are usually a lot of friends and family gatherings where I live. We enjoy being together and being in each other’s company. Sometimes we end up being a bit crazy and sometimes it is just nice to sit back and talk to people you have not spent time with in a long time. That is why I enjoy the holidays and they also bring about a little more work because I have to be a little careful with my ostomy. This means that I just have to be careful about what I let myself eat and drink because somethings are not so pleasant when it comes to your ostomy bag and the sounds and smells you may make. I am not one to want to cause a ruckus or anything weird so it is important to be a little careful.
There are a lot of things to be thankful for this year and a lot of them are that I am able to be with my family. With the COVID-19 pandemic, I am still happy my family is healthy and we are all not having any issues with the pandemic. We still get together and plan on having a great time. When we are together though I am aware that some things I eat can cause some issues with my stoma. So just like everyone I am working on having a good diet during the holiday season. It is really no different than anyone else and I don’t find having an ostomy to have really changed my basic holiday plans that much at all.
Now my first holiday season with a stoma, I was not nearly as aware of what I could eat and not eat and be fine with. The difference is that now I have to be careful not to indulge in things that are really going to mess up my night or cause me to do a lot of changes. That is just not normal and if you don’t understand what is in foods or in major holiday dishes it can be a pretty wild ride that may end up being a little embarrassing or am most a little annoying. So just know what your body can eat and enjoy.
One thing that I really enjoy is that technology is always getting better and so is the ostomy industry when it comes to gear and things that decrease smells. I was talking to my local pharmacist who ended up taking like 30 minutes to go over different things I could take myself or just drop into my ostomy bag to insure that smells were not an issue for the Holidays, and well also for hunting, but that is a totally different story. What really was amazing is that there were a lot of new options available and this was all due to the increase in awesome research done by these big companies. There is nothing cooler than seeing your life able to be made more simple and more fun by research that these companies are doing. Yes, money goes out the door on my end, but I get something I didn’t have before and that is simply a win all around.
Ostomy Log 