Blog - Patient Stories

I walked as carefully yet as quickly as possible down the aisle of the darkened airplane, trying not to make any noise that would awaken the sleeping passengers.  Those who weren’t quite asleep must have thought they were dreaming, as I stumbled past, my hands clutching my pants somewhere between my knees and my upper thighs.  At that moment, I wished I was dreaming, but…

“This one leaked again last night too.  Am I going to have to sleep with a plastic sheet for the rest of my life?!?” I sat on a chair across from my Enterostomal Therapy Nurse (called “ET nurse” from here on), slumped forward as I relayed the details of another night-time ostomy bag failure.  I was feeling frustrated and dejected.   It had been several…

Let’s be honest. Doing life with an ostomy can be challenging – wearing a bag can be inconvenient at certain times and downright embarrassing at others. Thankfully, there are ways you can reduce the possibility and the frequency of those times where your ostomy supplies “malfunction”. I’ll never forget one of the first public incidents I had with my ostomy bag. It was a hot…

Growing up, I was the kid who never got sick. Naturally lean and always active, especially in the outdoors, I could eat what I wanted, when I wanted, and never seemed to suffer any ill effects. By the time I was a teen, I had just as much reason as anyone to feel like I was invincible.   Fast forward past high school, through university,…