I found some fun and inspirational quotes and pictures on the net that I want to share with you:

 

 

And I found this terrific article...

 

http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-3986/10-Things-to-Remind-Yourself-on-a-Daily-Basis.html

 

 

xo   Inge

I made the abosulte BEST smoothie just now. I bought fresh figs at the store. They were on sale, so I figured I would try them. Eating them au naturale was pretty bland, so I decided to experiment. I peeled 7 figs and added them to 1/2 cup ...

coconut milk, a banana and threw them in a blender. WOW! Who needs milkshakes?  Make mine a fig smoothie! Figs are full of phyto-nutrients and anti-oxidents. They spoil fast so I suggest peeling and freezing them.

***Update...the maternity pants did not work out. They kept sliding down my butt so I walked around looking like a gangsta momma. Not the look I want...so I returned them and bought yoga pants. They are working out nicely. yay! They are also long enough.  I wish they made them in denim too.

My legs have been bothering me the last couple of days. I found a video on youtube...yoga for the disabled and have been doing a modified version. Hopefully that is why my legs are "talking" to me at night. Two days ago my left leg didn't want to walk either...looks like I will be using my walker a litttle longer than I hoped. Oh, well...I have nothing to complain about! Last year I was in the hospital at this time getting poked with giant needles and herds of men dressed as doctors looked at my ass daily.

Eat your fruits & veggies!    xo   Inge

I went shopping for new undies today. I eventually would like to stop wearing pull-ups, but I want to find some that I can put my pouch in. Everything I found were either grannie undies or cost over $10 a pair. If I am gonna pay $10 for  pair of undies they better come with a vibrator!

Eat your fruit & veggies!   xo   Inge

Sometimes I am so smart! I am gaining weight which is good but my jeans don't fit and when I sit down, I have to keep my pants unbuttoned and unzipped so I can breathe...then when I stand up I have to put it back together...it's a bit of a pain...sooo the other day I got a great idea. Wear maternity jeans! They have a stretchy stomach area so I have room for my bag and I don't have to mess with a button or zipper. I went to Sears today to buy John some jeans and we stopped by the maternity section. Bingo! They had a pair that fit and were long enough for my 6 foot tall frame :) I love it when I think outside the box :)

Eat your fruit & veggies!   xo  Inge

I have been doing ok with my ostomy bags as far as wearing one for at least 4 days which is how long they are supposed to last but these last couple of days has been a pain-in-my-ass (parden the pun). My bag broke twice this morning and the second time I was away from home. That really got me upset. My stoma is also unhappy...I have some red bumps around it that almost looks like blisters and it s...tings. I think the problem is once again my diet. I am having trouble figuring out what to eat that will make my stool just the right consistency; so it won't clog up which breaks the bag where it is attatched to my skin. I have 13 bags left, which seems like alot but I don't know when I get my next order of supplies. I am feeling a bit emotional today as well. I think I need to get myself back on schedule of journaling and meditating...

 

Eat your fruits & veggies!   xo Inge

I am still having problems with my bag leaking. I did have 4 days where my bag was intact, but today I saw my stoma nurse and she helped me put a new one on. It lasted 12 hours and then it breached. I will have to keep trying. My abdoman is still healing and shrinking so I have dimples where I didn't a couple of weeks ago.

I get my tb test checked tomorrow. This is the second one in a row. The hospital is quite thorough with that. Then I take my paperwork to the volunteer office and hopefully start within a couple of weeks :)

Eat your fruits & veggies!    xo   Inge

 

 

I was having trouble with my stoma bag yesterday. It is  was leaking AGAIN. It leaked Wednesday so I changed it and then Thursday afternoon it leaked again in the same place, so I called the home healthcare agency to get some advice. I guess its hard to troubleshoot that sort of problem over the phone, but the nurse told me she would get me some help. I had only one bag left and my supplies won't be here for at least one more week, so I thought I might have to use a ziplock baggie and duct tape for awhile. About an hour later my  home healthcare nurse called and told me she would come over Friday morning. Then a friend dropped off some extra stoma bags a few minutes later. Whew!

 

 

My nurse came over this morning to help me with my leaky bag. I was up most of the night checking it and putting more tape on it. I didn't want to change it though because I wanted my nurse to see where it was leaking. I'm glad I didn't because she had to take pictures of the area. When I did take off the bag I noticed my abdomen around the stoma had changed. I think it was swollen from surgery and now it's returning to normal, so I now have "dimple" near the stoma and exactly where my bag leaks. The ring used to sit flush on my skin but now there is an area where there is a very small space that stool can seep through. I called my doctor's nurse and she gave me a some paste that will fill in that area. Good thing because I was going to go visit the hardware store and buy some plumbers putty :O

Eat your fruits & veggies    xo Inge

Do you know there are videos on youtube that show how to change  colostomy bag? Neither did I...my home health nurse told me about it. I had a busy day today. I must have changed my bag 8 times. There were times it really hurt because my stool was too hard. I will have to find out what kinds of food I can eat that will make that easier. I have not changed my bag yet...I'm waiting for the nurse to come back to help me.  My incision is feeling better though.
Eat your fruits & veggies!   Inge

I am back in my own bed...I was released yesterday afternoon. I feel so much better than I did a few days ago. I haven't had a real bowel movement yet. I'm taking Vicadin for pain and that will constipate people. It's nice to be home. My critters were so happy to see me, especially Jinx...he must have meowed for 10 straight minutes. I can eat most foods now, but I have to stay away from gas causing ones for a while though. I plan to make lots of smoothies and juicing. I have to change the way I take meds and vitamins now. Did you know alot of these pills are digested in the intestines? I thought they were in the stomach. The vitamins and herbs I take now are in capsules so I will break them open and add them to my smoothies. If I need antibiotics I will need them in liquid form. This change will be forever. I will also need to eat smaller more frequent meals and drink more water.
I had a small scare this morning at 6am. I woke up and went to the bathroom to pee and my pullup had diarrhea mixed with blood in it. I thought at first that my stoma bag leaked, but that was secure. It definitely came out of my rectum and small fresh drops of blood continued to come out. I also had cramping and pain all over my abdomen, not just my incisions, so I called the emergency room nurse to see if I should come in, she told me they were slammed with trauma patients....its Saturday night and lots of shootings (my personal comment) but that I could come in to get checked out. I decided to wait for the "rush" to get over and go back to sleep.  I got up 3 hours later, nothing in my pullup now and my abdomen feels better. I will wait and see. If there is something wrong it should leak out of my rectum again. If it does I will go to emergency and get it looked at.
It will take practise to get this changing my stoma bag down. There are lots of steps. I can only change it 2-3 times a week...I will only get enough supplies for that amount.  The supplies will run total about $300 a month! Emptying the bag will be ok. I will rinse it out with my squirt bottle to keep any odors to a minimum. I have to admit my stoma looks weird...it is actually my intestine sticking out of my skin, luckily it does not have nerves. It looks like a fat tongue and sticks out about 1/4 of an inch. Look it up on google image under colostomy and stoma if you are curious. I was going to post a photo of it on my blog but I figured it might gross some people out. It sure will be nice to have the freedom to leave my house earlier and not poop my pants anymore.

Eat your fruits & veggies!   xo  Inge

I dreamed about food last night...when I was sleeping...I am drinking lots of liquids and hooked up to saline drip...so that means lots of bathroom trips. Actually my bathroom is a portable potty by my bed. I still need help getting out of bed, but today I walked outside my room with the help of my occupational therapist. I also washed up and brushed my teeth. yay!

Eat your fruits & veggies!   xo   Inge

Well, I made it through surgery. I was in recovery sleeping quite nicely when I woke up to someone hooking me up to the ekg machine, apparently my heart rate was too slow. I guess its better than too fast. They must have cleared up the problem because I am here typing. I spent the rest of the evening dry heaving. The anesthesia did not agree with me and retching after colon surgery is not fun. I was up most of the night, I was either trying to find a comfortable way to sleep...I like sleeping on my side but it was too painful so I used lots of pillows...and the rest of the time the nurse came in to draw blood or take my vitals.
I need help getting out of bed and I have a portable potty next to me. I can't walk because it is too painful, but I can sit in bed with lots of pillows to support my back. I haven't eaten since and Sunday night. Monday I only drank clear liquids and sat on the toilet all night. Today I am back to clear liquids but only after bugging my doctors for hours. Hopefully I can eat solid food tomorrow.
You know whats weird? I feel like I need to poop but the urge is down by my rectum. I guess my brain doesn't know I had my plumbing changed yet. I wonder if it is like ghost pains, like when someone has their leg amputated. I was just informed that my diet will change...it will be a low residue, whatever that means. I can still drink my smoothies and juice still.

Eat your fruits & veggies     xo Inge

Tomorrow is D day for me. Today I am packing the things I will be taking to the hospital. I also dyed my hair...I figure I should look my best for surgery :) I cannot eat solid food today...only clear liquids. My stomach is growling :(   At least I was able to gain 5 pounds, so I won't lose much more weight.  I am glad to be getting this colostomy bag sooner than later...I had so many "accidents" in my pullups while I was away from home the last two weeks I lost count. It will be nice to stop worrying where the bathrooms are and will I make it in time. I will be in the hospital for 4 days and I can't drive for 2 weeks. James will be coming over sometime today...he drove down from Oakland last night to be with me.

I just took 2 oral dlucolax gel pills (can someone explain to me why I had to get a store clerk to help me because the laxatives are locked up? Are the bulimics stealing this stuff???)  After an hour I have to drink a gallon of Gatorade mixed with Draino. You probably know how I will be spending my evening!
Oh, well...my tush will get one hell of a work out before it retires!

Eat your fruits & veggies!    xo   Inge

There is so much to do before surgery that is only eight days away. Tomorrow I go to my surgeons nurse to get "marked." I have to bring a pair of jeans and a skirt. I want to make sure the colostomy bag won't rub against the waistbands. I have had several "accidents" this week so I will be happy to have that problem taken care of. I had my MRI yesterday, with the help of my happy pill. I was in that machine for 30 minutes but I was so loopy it felt like 5 minutes.

I was recently contacted by someone else who has cancer. They wanted to know what I was doing to get better. That got me thinking...maybe I should write an e-book to help others get through this illness. What do you think? I am already planning to speak at local churches and hospitals to encourage others who have cancer or people who have loved ones with cancer. Maybe that will be my new profession.

Eat your fruits & veggies!   xo Inge