Lessons Learnt In The Art Of Wearing Dungarees…

Today my Daughter, Pippa, and I joined some other family for Afternoon Tea to celebrate my Daughter-in-laws birthday.

Before we left I decided to take a Loperamide tablet. Just as a precaution as my output had been a little thin this morning. The best way I can think to explain Loperamide is that it works in the same way as adding cornflour to your sauce, it thickens it up. One of the main differences between a Colostomy and a Ileostomy, other than the fact that Ileostomies are on the right and colostomies the left, is that Ileostomies generally have a fairly thin output. This is because the colon is responsible for the absorption of excess fluids. So without a colon a lot of that fluid is then expelled from the body in the output.

If you haven’t already clicked, output is the polite term for poop. Quite why it isn’t referred to as poop, I don’t really know, but I guess it’s because it’s more palatable. This said we wouldn’t refer to poop as ‘output’ if we expelled it in the usual manner, would we? – “Where’s Fred”? “Oh he’s just gone for an output”!

Anyway, in a nutshell thinner output means you have to be mindful of fluid intake, so as not to become dehydrated. It can happen really quickly and is a common complication for people with Ileostomies. So having shares in Lucozade sport is a must. Another problem that can occur with thinner output, is leakages. I have been lucky so far as I haven’t had to date (touch wood) any leakage catastrophes, but my day will come, I’m sure. So on occasions when output it thinner than normal, Loperamide is an absolute god send, especially if you’re heading out.

The afternoon was lovely, and it felt good to be out and about like a proper grown-up again. The dungarees got their debut outing, and they seemed to go down a treat, which was great. It’s always a bit daunting to sport a new look, isn’t it?

However, I do now believe they should be sold with an instruction manual, and warnings! During a seemingly ordinary trip to the toilet, this became apparent pretty quickly. I fumbled about getting them undone, but managed. I was very proud and feeling like a boss at this point (feeling like a boss by setting achievable goals is something I’m a big believer in, and we’ll cover this in more detail in a later post). Anyway, getting them done up was a whole other story, as the reality set in…… I’d let one of the straps drop into the toilet bowl, and the end was soaking wet. Nobody warns about this part do they, nope!

See, this blog doesn’t just cover education around stomas, it covers other important life lessons too. Like how not to pee on your new dungarees!!!

None-the-less, the food was great, the company was fab, and nobody noticed my wet strap (the scarf helped). Or if they did, they were polite enough to catch on to my rooky error, and not mention it 🙂

All in all another good day in my world.