There's something wrong with my insides... who's going to prepare me for emergency surgery if I need the "worst case scenario?"
So I'm going to be honest here... I have undergone screening for IBD. Inflammatory bowel disease. Now this blog isn't changing anytime soon to have one focus. Because it's a blog for social change. Now... I'm too old for play therapy probably because I'm early 20s and that's for children predominantly.
So... what is this post even about? You now know something personal about me. I've trusted you with it. Okay, could be coeliac disease but honestly I have ibd in my family deeply embedded into my gene coding. So how the heck am I supposed to prepare myself incase I need surgery? I don't know anything right now. You might be thinking, hurricane... think positively! But I've been scared of this and having a child for a long time. But this post isn't about fear of child birth. This post is about waking up to an emergency stoma bag. What does the NHS do when you need emergency surgery?
I'm sorry, we're shipping you off in an ambulance to get you some bowel removed because you're gonna die if we don't. What if they don't have time to do that? Girly... I'm sorry. You're going to hospital. Bang straight under anaesthesia.
So is it really so bad preparing yourself for the worst? Maybe not. Maybe it could be positive if you think these people will save me. But I have a relative with a stoma bag and I don't want to break confidentiality so I can't say who. But this members stoma hasn't got the hole in the right place. So tell me... what is this member supposed to do? Actually I'm sorry, unless you are a surgeon I don't want you opinion. They have already had a lot of surgery. The body has been under alot of strength. They may not survive. I don't deal with death very well so that's not the best outcome for anyone.
I'm currently a student but that doesn't mean this is a student blog. There's not alot I can say and if this was a student blog it wouldn't last as long as a generic blog for social change would. My question is for any university student with a stoma, how do you manage? What do you do? I've already been in hospital this year. My degree is almost complete. I am scared. I don't know how to do uni with a stoma. But I kind of know how to do uni with bipolar but that is a separate blog. So if I'm to poo in a bag for the rest of my life probably because fuck doubling the amount of surgery... who's going to prepare me if its an emergency surgery?
Well... that answer is straightforward. Me! I'm the only one who can prepare myself for the best and worst case scenario. Im scared of pooing in public. Okay there. I said it. I can't poo in public. So what would be so bad about having a stoma? The fact I'm in student accommodation and I don't wanna change it? The fact that I can't open a window in my bathroom? There is air freshener... you can get automatic ones. There are different ones. Specific ones for people with stoma bags.
Don't give me hate for writing this. I'm not saying it's okay to jump to conclusions. I'm saying you should always be prepared for emergencies. Have a plan ready. Planning in advance is highly recommended for a lot of things. People keep survival kits in their car. People carry a first aid kit. So why don't we be prepared for other emergencies?
Emergency surgery is scary. One of my relatives had emergency eye surgery. Yep, you can imagine the fear can't you? One day your vision is fine the next you can't see barely. Surgery. They are fine now thank god because I don't know how I would have coped if they needed more support than they already need. It's stressful for everyone.
The after care is okay I assume but there's so much neglect going on inside the NHS. I know it's not the staffs fault but something needs to change. We can all agree on that can't we?
So why don't we let children and teenagers do a sponsored wear a stoma bag for a few weeks? Why don't we educate people when they are old enough to understand how to prepare themselves in the unlikely event of having emergency surgery? How likely even is that? I'm too lazy to research I have enough going on. So who actually makes the rules about this? The board of education? When will school actually teach useful things they can apply outside the class room or is that just the job for university? Okay PHSE is a thing but when was that so accessible it taught everyone what they needed to know? It doesn't.
So I'm going now. I need to prepare myself for the results on Monday. I may or may not update you after. It depends on how you react to this. Any student with a stoma please comment and educate me. Take care of yourselves.
Hurricane, over and out!
