Finding out that you need to have an ostomy surgery can come as quite a shock to many people. Initially, it can be pretty scary, and many people worry about how their life will change because of this procedure. While your doctor will be able to answer many of these questions for you, we wanted to help ease people’s minds by getting into the question, “Is having an ostomy as life-changing as it might seem?” We think you’ll be pleasantly surprised by the answer.
Things You’ll Still Be Able To Do
Before we answer the question outright, let’s cover some of the things you’ll still be able to do with an ostomy. In general, you’ll still be able to eat, sleep, and be active in all the ways you were able to before the surgery. The only change is that you’ll need to be a bit more careful.
Some foods might not agree with you post-surgery, so you’ll need to make a note of them. Your sleeping positions won’t be an issue as long as you didn’t sleep on your stomach before. You’ll just need to make sure your bag is well-supported. As for physical activities, you can do just about anything, even swim. All you have to do is make sure you have an ostomy pouch that’s made for these types of activities.
Changes To Be Aware Of
While your daily activities won’t be drastically affected, there will be some changes that you should be aware of. Most obviously, how you go to the bathroom will change. Instead of using the toilet when you go, you’ll need to change or empty your ostomy bag. On top of that, there will be other common ostomy issues you should know about. However, none of these will be a problem once you get used to them.
Life-Changing Isn’t Necessarily a Bad Thing
While we’ve been trying to clarify that having an ostomy isn’t as life-changing as it might seem, this is all a matter of perspective. Most people only worry about the negatives regarding this kind of surgery. That’s why we need to show that the things they’re worried about aren’t that bad.
The fact is that an ostomy surgery is life-changing, but in a good way. Before the surgery, you likely dealt with a troublesome health condition that burdened your life. After that surgery, all the issues stemming from that problem should be gone, allowing you to get back out there and enjoy life again. So instead of focusing on the bad, look towards the good, and we promise you’ll be much less worried about having an ostomy.
