How ostomy would affect my life

As a child, I loved to be outside. My dad works on cars a lot, and I enjoyed helping him change the breaks or do oil changes. I remember also following him around as he mowed with my own small plastic push mower, thinking I was doing something. As I grew up, I got into soccer and played that for a handful of years before entering high school. When high school hit, I wanted to try new things, so I played football my freshman year only to realize how much of a waste of money it was for me. In the spring, I did track and field, specifically pole vaulting. It was fun flying through the air. I also did it my sophomore year but was done with it after that. If I were born and needed an ostomy, I would not have been able to do half the things I did. However, today I believe it would not have a drastic effect on me. 

If I was born and had the need for an ostomy procedure, I believe my childhood growing up would have been much different. I enjoyed being outside and playing sports. I did soccer for a while. If I had an ostomy, I would not have been able to play soccer. With ostomy procedures, you need a pouch. The pouch is attached to the abdomen covering the ostomy hole, also called a stoma. The pouch is so any waste excreted from the body is collected here. If I had an ostomy, I could not play soccer because if I were to get hit there, it would not only burst the bag, but it would also cause a great deal of pain if it hit directly on the stoma.

In my high school days, I believe that an ostomy would not have been such a burden as it would have been growing up. When high school hit, I tried out a few different things. I played football and was a running back and cornerback. If I had an ostomy procedure, I would not have been able to play football because it is so rough, and I would have the same risks of my ostomy bag rupturing and hurting my stoma. Pole vault, on the other hand, could still be done if I were to remove the ostomy bag. I would need to remove it so that I won’t have any kind of restriction on my reach. I would have had to take great precautions when I land, though, because if I landed on the stoma, it would hurt a lot and possibly have some other consequences. 

Today if I had an ostomy, I believe it would not be all that bad. I like to be indoors mostly now and play on my custom-built computer. I also have a job that is mostly sitting at a desk writing. Having an ostomy would not affect me because I am mostly sitting around now. It could be beneficial because it would mean fewer trips to the bathroom; thus, I would be able to get more work done and be able to play games with more minor breaks. 

As a child, I believe having an ostomy bag would have limited me to a tiny few things I would be able to do, as a child, that would be devastating because I was very active then. Nowadays, I believe that having an ostomy would not be all that bad. Sure, I would not be able to play paintball as much as I do, but I believe I could live with that as I am older and understand things better now. 

Adapting to Life

When I was growing up, I loved sports. Sports were everything to me. I think I enjoyed sport so much because of how competitive I was. I hated losing and loved the feeling of victory, or winning. This feeling of victory and success drove me to play as much as I could. Even in physical education class, it didn’t matter what game we were playing, I wanted to win. I would often go over the top to get a victory. I can’t say I enjoyed this about myself, but I couldn’t control it. I remember thinking “I’m just going to take it nice and easy today and have fun”.

But then something would trigger me and I would go into full blown competitive mode. My classmates often said “stop taking this so seriously, it’s just a physical education game, calm down”. I didn’t appreciate their words, so I went even harder and took it even more seriously.

My eighth grade year of school, I decided to play baseball and run cross country for the junior high program at the exact same time.

I must admit, it was a lot. But, like I said, I loved the competition and playing two sports at once gave me all the chances to compete I needed. Playing sport involves risk of injury. Playing two sports at once increases that risk exponentially. And I could not escape the risk. Towards the end of cross country season, we were on the track doing 400 meter repeats. We would run a 400, then rest one to two minutes, then take off for another 400.

We had about 12 boys on the team and we would all start each 400 at the same time. Well, I had gotten tripped up by a teammate that was behind me in the first 20 meters of one of the 400’s. I ended up getting trampled on a concrete track. My entire abdomen was so skinned up. As I was looking for ways to help ease my pain, I came across some Hollister ostomy supplies.

These supplies are predominately used for folks that have had ostomy procedures. But I noticed one of the products looked like a thick belt that covered your entire abdomen. We decided to get one for me so my skin wouldn’t rub against my shirt. Although I never had an ostomy care procedure done, the Hollister ostomy supplies available definitely helped my healing process.