It’s been weeks since my last hospitalization…and my last post, come to think of it. Though my metabolism seems to be out of balance still, inasmuch as I have aches in many of my joints and muscles, I’ve been feeling pretty much normal! I even spent about 6 hours putting together Lily’s new ‘big girl’ bed from IKEA the other day with no drastic consequences.
As far as food goes, still no blockages (fingers crossed). I’ve tried small amounts of all the danger foods—mushrooms, popcorn, etc. While the mushrooms and some other fibrous foods go through pretty much undiminished, chewing well seems to get the chunks small enough not to matter. Perhaps not eating a lot at once also helps. You can see the strangest output I’ve had in the photo below, taken several weeks back. I attribute these little marble-sized balls to a bunch of sprouts I had on a sandwich the day before. They passed with a sort of satisfying pressure through my stoma and were roughy the consistency of play dough. When squished inside the ostomy bag, they turned from the dark color shown here to a translucent green, hence my sprouts theory.
The only other news for now is that I’ve ordered some sample ostomy supplies from Hollister. Since Sammy’s now about as small as he’s likely to get at 1 1/8″ diameter, I’m ready to switch to a pre-cut adhesive wafer. Will try to be more diligent about postings when they arrive. Oh, and my mom gifted me a month of training at the gym up the street, so hopefully I’ll be able to get those aches and pains to disappear as the trainer pushes me to regain strength and flexibility faster.
Be Well,
Chris
