This is a very open and honest post that Caz from Invisibly Me blog has shared with Talk Health Partnership Blog – she really inspires me and I hope that you feel the same.  Even if you aren’t one of the chronic illness community, please read this amazing young lady’s story!

“Some people get a day. Some may get a week, a month, a year. Others may get no warning, simply waking up with a new life.

From IBD and cancer, to colonic inertia, pelvic floor dysfunction and bowel trauma, stoma surgery is undertaken for various reasons. It may be temporary, with the hopes of being reversed at a later date, or it may be permanent.

One thing remains constant: having a stoma is a big deal, though the experience of life with a stoma is as different as every individual is unique.

Pre-Op : Ignorance Is Bliss?

Although I had forewarning and agreed to the surgery, even as I was being rolled in to the operating room my brain hadn’t quite absorbed what was happening. I talked to my parents about it as though it were a clinical rather than personal issue, as though it were happening to someone else. While my parents were upset, I was busy preparing for surgery and focusing on the practical things I could do. It was my third operation but it didn’t feel any easier to get my head around.

In some ways, there was an element of ‘ignorance is bliss’. I didn’t want to know too much; just enough to prepare myself, not too much to scare myself.”

Please continue reading the full article here