This week, I decided to share anecdotes of when I wasn't about my stoma. Moments that made me think: "Maybe tomorrow's gonna be better, but today, my life sucks". (Thanks Lisa Leblanc for this awesome quote!)

It's common to talk more about the bright side and everything that's positive after making a decision that will change our life forever. But that's the point: everything changes, and a bunch of new things that we hadn't necessarily talked about happened to me. So I thought I'd tell you about it.

Leaks... It happened to me more than once, and it'll happen again in the future. It definitely is the biggest obstacle I've had to face since getting an ostomy. A leak happens when your stools leak on your body. This makes the flange unstick from your stomach and causes unpleasant accidents. There are really small leaks, and there are leaks that force you to get up in the middle of the night and make you think that your life sucks. The latter makes you get up at 4 in the morning to change your sheets... but I'm telling you about the worst that could happen. It makes you want to cry and feel sorry for yourself. But feeling sorry for yourself when you're covered in stools is not the best of ideas. You have to pull yourself together, clean yourself up and carry on.

I've faced obstacles like this multiple times. At work, for example! I have two jobs: I am an elementary teacher, and a waitress at a hotel. Two years ago, I was working on December 31st at a New Year's party. At around 5 pm, I had a leak, and I hadn't brought anything to change my ostomy system, because it's not something I would usually do. I had to deal with this all night long. At midnight, after suffering through this for seven hours, I thought that it wasn't a great way to start the new year! But I didn't think about it for too long, since it wouldn't have helped me anyway. It was something annoying, but I knew it would happen again.

And then last year, during my last year of university, I lived at my aunt's place for a few months. Once, I had to change my ostomy system three times during the same week, and I hadn't brought stuff to actualy change it that many times. What I fear would happen happened: In the middle of the night, I had another leak, and I would've had to drive an hour and a half to get the rest of my ostomy system. It was 2 am, and everything was closed! No pharmacies or hospitals could help me in the middle of the night. I decided to call my father to tell him what had happened. Ever since I was little, he told me that he would always help me, no matter where I was or the situation I was in. So he made a 3 hours round-trip to get me my ostomy system. That's when I understood how much parents love their children, and hoe much my father loved me.

You will go through obstacles, hardships, and moments where you just want to stop and say "my life sucks". You just need to learn to see silver linings and know that it doesn't matter, because everything's going to be better tomorrow.

Elisabeth

Sponsored by our partner : Centre de Stomie de la Mauricie