PLEASE DON'T GIVE UP!!!!!!
From: jackie burgess (jackie@k9paws.fsnet.co.uk)
Wed Mar 14 16:05:32 2001
Hi everybody,
>
>6yrs ago I went into hospital on a friday morn. was told that i
>would only be in for half a day, had my op. removal of ovaries,
>that afternoon my hubby rang up to see if he could collect me to
>take me home, he was told there had been some sort of complications,
>but not told what. On the sat. junior dr came round on ward round
>and said that i could go home, I stated that I had not passed
>urine, or opened my bowels AND SIMPLY DID NOT FEEL WELL ENOUGH TO
>GO HOME, I was absolutely desperate to go to wee, so they inserted
>a catheter(relief). so they kept me in hospital. On the sunday
>morn.i felt a little better but not right, on the mon. morn. at
>6.30am they came to remove my catheter with the prospect of going
>home that day, well after that all hell broke loose I was being
>violently sick, but it was a horrible blacky/green in colour, and
>the pain was excruciating, this progressed for most of the morn. I
>went to try to open bowels but i was literally crawling on my hands
>and knees, i thought i was going to die(little did I know I was,
>actually). After my husband kicked up a right stink that the
>consultant should be called he eventually arrived around 3.00ish
>and said oops it looks like i might have nicked your bowel and
>bladder, because at this point I was totally incontinent of urine. I
>was then rushed into theatre as an emergency at around 10.00pm and
>came out of theatre around 2.00am with tubes in every orifice in my
>body, in my neck up my nose all over my body and to my horror and
>yes it was horror a colostomy, of course i was heavily sedated
>on morphine. I was kept in hospital for roughly 3 months so I had
>no alternative but to cope with my new friend!!! > HA HA. But
>everyone kept telling me how well i was coping, but they didnt know
>what was going on in my mind only i did, yes i'll admit i didnt want
>to carry on life as a 'Freak' but then i had to weigh up the
>alternatives. I KNOW I went through the tunnel to GOD. I could tell u
> everybody that was standing at my bedside mourning me, everything
>was white,the whole room was white and very very bright, but i
>wasnt frightened, it was so serene I eventually had the colostomy
>reversed in the dec. and its the worst mistake i had to make. at
>least i could do more things then than i can now.They didnt repair
>the whole in my bladder til the following february, that was worse
>than having a colostomy, you think u smell of urine all the time, and
>if and when i did go out i was wearing adult nappies two pairs
>of underwear just to try to remain dry, i did have a few mishaps and
>i just burst out crying with the humiliation of WETTING myself.
>I DID NOT find a colostomy hard to care for, as i didnt have a
>choice, hey this is what i'd been dealt so I had to get on with
>it, It was the coping mentally, what were people thinking of me,
>could they smell 'the pooh' all those kinds of things.would my
>hubby want to make love to me with a colostomy? Since then i
>have had 17 ops to try to sort all the problems out, but my inside
>is an absolute mess, and I wont ever be cured of pain. one of the
>worst things is trying to have a sex life, or opening my bowels.
>either of these things take me to my bed with so much pain, and
>sometimes vomiting straight after. as i said before i am now
>registered disabled and have not worked for 6 yrs since and cannot
>do housework cooking very often, all the things people take for
>granted.BUT this is how i'm going to be for the rest of my life so
>i HAVE to learn to cope, not saying that i do all the time,
>sometimes i'm so depressed, but what other choice do i have, GOD gave
>me a second chance at life, i've a job to do, still,on this earth,
>so i WILL do it to the best of my abilities, disabled or not.
>I dont mean to be patronising, but, try not to look on what could
>happen, all the time, YES u have to be realistic and be aware of
>what could go wrong, but you could get all het up worrying about a
>colostomy. In MY OWN PERSONAL OPINION, IT WASNT THAT BAD. try to
>stay as positive as u can. I was just very unlucky, but then i let
>the judicial system fight my case, and happily i won. So many
>things go wrong in this world, but God put us on this earth as he
said "for just one day, any more time u get after that one day, is a
>bonus.I know its hard to stay strong at times, but IF i can cope then
>i know others can Hope this answers some of your concerns, and
>if i've helped then its been my pleasure to share MY experience
>with others
Hi everybody thought i would reply to your email. I
>myself ended up with a colostomy 5yrs ago NOT due to a stretching of
>the colon but having my ovaries removed, the surgeon accidently cut
>my bowel and bladder. I know the thought of a colostomy frightens
>people, but in MY OWN experience I managed to cope with it(well I had
>to ) it was coming to terms with what had happened and my own opinion
>of what others must have been thinking about me. 7 months later i had
>it reversed and although it was excruciatingly painful at the time of
>the reversal, I didnt have half as many problems as i do now.
>
>Somtimes I regret making the decision to have my bowel re-sectioned >
>again,at least then I could live life fuller than I can now.
>
>As so many people have already stated things CAN go wrong
unfortunately,
>but I had to make the best of what I had.If it meant me having a
>better quality of life than I do now then I would opt for another
>colostomy. I even asked my surgeon if he would consider me having
>another one, needless to say his reply was unless there is a clinical
>obstruction then no. I did actually suffer from peritonitis and its
>not a very pleasant experience to go through, I know I went through
>the tunnel to God, but fortunately my time was not up.
>
>Please dont think i'm being negative, but people must hear what its
>like to end up having peritonitis or a colostomy.
>I would not want to offend or upset anyone this is just MY OWN experience of what can go wrong.
>I guess I was just very unfortunate
>
>hope this helps alittle regards
>
>jackie B England