Going with my Gut: A Journey to Wellness

Just a short post to say that my virus is finally going away! I have more energy and feel much more like myself. Now I'm back to dealing with leaking pouches and skin irritation, but I'd rather deal with that than a bad head cold or a twisted bowel!  I've decided that I'm ready to move back to my apartment in Newton, so I'm planning to move next weekend! True sign of feeling better is needing space from your family ;-) More updates later... xo Steph

I was going to wait to write a more upbeat blog post, but I realized it's okay to share the difficult stuff while it's happening and maybe it will help to get a little extra TLC from everyone! I was discharged from the hospital on Saturday and have been steadily recovering from surgery at my parents' house. At first when I arrived I was confronted with my new reality-- I was back home, but with different capabilities.  For instance, it was frustrating to have a hard time sitting up or getting comfortable to fall asleep when I had mastered those things before my unplanned hospitalization. Fortunately, each day I have been regaining some of my strength. I needed some powerful pain meds for a couple of days, but now I'm down to Tylenol. My belly is no longer distended and the lap sites seem to be healing just fine. I thought the hospitalization was a trying situation, but this week has continued to challenge me. First, I had a partial food blockage. On Tuesday I began

The last three weeks have had challenges, but overall I felt like I was on a positive trajectory. This week I hit a bump in the road and had to have emergency surgery due to a medical complication. The short story is that I'm doing much better now, and will likely go home from the hospital this weekend, but you can read more of the long version below. On Wednesday it felt like spring, so I laced up my sneakers and went for a nice, muddy walk around Hall's pond. This was probably the most "normal" I'd felt in a few weeks- walking outside by myself, taking photos of nature, and listening to podcasts! When I got home I ate lunch and that's when the terrible stomach pains began. I'd heard about people having gas pains, and I thought that must be it, so I started walking around the apartment, marching up and down the stairs in the hallway, and doing some happy baby yoga poses to relieve the gas. My dad encouraged me to call the ostomy nurse and she added that

Note: I'm doing my best to keep down the gross factor in these posts, but this one might not be one to read during a lunch break! I had my first post-surgery follow up doctor's appointment yesterday and I got a good report! The staff were happy with the quality and quantity of my poo and I don't have to measure the amount anymore! This was not my favorite task and I feel like I'm moving up in the world! I'm also slowly gaining some weight back (maybe due to my amazing food options, ha), so that is good too.  My biggest challenges so far have been some peeing issues (this is improving, but more on that another day) and irritation around my stoma (ostomy). A stoma is "an opening on the surface of the abdomen which has been surgically created to divert the flow of feces or urine," and if you want to know more this website has very easy to understand information (without gross pictures!). I have a temporary ileostomy, so basically a part of my sm