First week of uni with a stoma

You may or may not know, but this week I started my second year at university. To be honest, I'm amazed that I actually made it to this year with surgery and at one point I out right said I was dropping out but, deep breath, I did it. I passed my exams and I'm here again. I'm not going to lie, I was really nervous about coming back and living away from home so I thought I'd share with you how my first week went!

Bag wise, everything has been fine. I had a mare of a time at first because my toilet wouldn't flush which is just a bit of an inconvenience! But I got it sorted in a day and now it flushes. But changing bags and just coping with them hasn't been too difficult.

I actually made it on  night out which including drinking and rolling in at 3 in the morning (sorry mum). I think this was one of the scariest things I've done this week and it wasn't too bad. I don't really like nights out like that so I didn't really enjoy it. I was worried about dehydration so I mainly drank water once I was actually out (which made it really cheap!) and then I had a rehydration powder drink I got from boots when I got it. All in all, I survived it and it was meh but that wasn't really down to the bag, it's just I don't like nights out!

A note about alcohol now; I've actually been really fine with drinking however some alcohol makes my bag go really weird but I've not figured out what it is yet...all I know is that my bag output because quite strange when I've had cocktails. Nothing too major though!

One thing I've really struggled with this week is homesickness. I've had it really bad and did go home this weekend. What can I say, I'm a creature of habit but I now have the nickname Boomerang at home because I stuck out a total of 4 days before coming home. I think its because I've been completely locked after these past 6 months and me and my dad got into a good routine; I don't like change basically. So my biggest thing to work on is that really!

Food wise has been great. I've been introducing more raw veg (okay, so tomatoes) but touch wood (touch lots of wood people) I've had no blockages which is fab because it was something I was a bit worried about

When it comes to actual going into university, I only had welcome lectures last week so I've just started having my proper ones and they seem to be good so far. I had my first criminal lecture today and it was so interesting! I cannot wait to learn even more about it.

So there you have it, my first week of second year at uni! Fingers crossed its up from here and I'll keep you all up to date

xo

5 places to go in Brittany, France

If you've ready my swimming with an ostomy post, you'll already know that I've been on holiday to France. More specifically, I was in Dol-De-Bretagne in Brittany. I haven't been there in like 12 years so it was great to go back! There are so many things to do and places to go in the area so I thought I'd give you my top 10 places to visit there...

First time swimming with an Ostomy

If you follow me on Instagram you'll have seen I was on holiday last week which gave me the perfect opportunity to go swimming for the first time. I've never been much of a swimmer but I knew I'd have to do it at some point and I'm not going to lie, I was a bit apprehensive but as you can see from the picture above I soon overcame it!

10 things about Autumn

If you hadn't already guessed it, Autumn is here. And I can confirm this as I'm writing this from my new room in my new flat. Seeing as it's the start of a new season (and probably my favourite) I thought I'd share my top 10 things about autumn.

Farmhouse Fruit Cake

I promise you all, I was going to take a photo of the cake I baked however when I went to take the picture, the cake had all gone (I'm looking at you, dad!). This cake always reminds me of being really little and watching my mum bake and every time she bakes it, even to this day, the smell transports me back to being small. I decided to have a go at baking it because both me and my dad really love this cake...it tastes so good!

INGRDIENTS

275g Self-raising flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

225g butter

225g caster sugar

1 orange (grated & juiced)

5 eggs

350g sultanas

125g raisins

175g chopped glace cherries

50g chopped mixed peel

METHOD

1. Preheat the oven to 150C/Gas mark 2

2. Sift the flour and salt together. Then add the butter and sugar and rub it together. To do this, with your fingertips (and thumb) rub all the mixture together until it looks a bit like breadcrumbs. 

3. Grate (or zest if you want to get fancy) the orange rind and beat it in. Then beat in the eggs, then fruit and then the juice of the orange

4. Line a 20cm/8 inch cake tin with a double thickness of greaseproof paper and spoon the mixture into it. I actually used two smaller cake tins and made two smaller cakes as I was giving one of them to a friend. 

5. Bake the cake for two and a half hours, or until you can but a knife into the centre and it comes out clean

And voila! You have a yummy cake which technically has at least 2 of your 5 a day! Let me know in the comments if you try making it and tag me in any photos of your bakes on instagram or twitter

Debbie's Story

Recently I asked some of the ostomy forums whether anyone would be comfortable sharing their stories and experiences with a stoma and/or IBD and the response was overwhelming! The idea behind this is to show how different people are affected and just how people have dealt with it to show the different sides of the disease and the stoma. This post has been written by Debbie.

Guest Post : Skincare Routine for Oily Skin

Hello all, I’m Alex from www.alwa.co.uk and Katie was kind enough to let me guest post on this lovely blog whilst she’s away! I thought I’d tell you all about my current skincare routine and share with you what products I’m loving at the moment.

My thoughts on Go Set A Watchman

When I heard that there was a sequel (or prequel seeing as it was supposedly written before) of to Kill A Mockingbird, I could not wait to read it. To kill a mockingbird is one of my absolute favourite books which meant I had high hopes for the second book but maybe that was part of the problem because I did not like Go Set A Watchman. I didn't like it to the point that I couldn't finish the book.

What's it really like to have a colonoscopy?

There's defiantly a taboo around speaking about colonoscopies...the sheer mention of them can set a person sniggering (unless they've actually had one). I remember that after having my first one, I didn't mention it to anyone for the fear that people would laugh in my face. I remember being absolutely terrified before having mine which resulted me ending up on Mums Net and becoming even more neurotic about it! If I'd written this post a year ago, it would've had the tone of I don't see what's too bad about having a colonoscopy...It hardly hurt at all when I had it and it was cool because I saw my insides!. Fast forward a year and I laugh in the face of my naive self. Because I've had two experiences, I'm going to tell you about both and then at the end I'll explain why the two experiences were so polar opposite (because I asked the nurses why...what can I say, I was curious!)

Yves Saint Laurent: Style is Eternal

Last week, I went for a day out to The Bowes Museum with one of my friends to go and have a look at the Yves Saint Laurent: Style is Eternal exhibition. The exhibition showcases his greatest hits, intertwined with the museums own fashion collection which includes pieces from nearly every century.

Yummy Sugar Free Victoria Sponge Cake

Yes, you read that right; a victoria sponge cake which is sugar free! If you've read my August Favourites or follow me on social media, you'll have already seen this picture and I've had an influx of people asking me for the recipe.

Introducing my sponsor : SecuriCare & CliniMed

I've been so excited to tell you all about this latest news. This blog has been sponsored! SecuriCare & Clinimed are a company who give support and supply stoma products to all us ostomates! So what does this mean for the blog? It means that I'll be putting even more effort into the blog and producing more stoma related content...so nothing too different! But it means that I get to not only make some money out of something I love doing but also create more awareness about stomas and SecuriCare & CliniMed, a company who has been there for me since before I even got my stoma!

So, let me tell you a bit about my experience with SecuriCare. My stoma nurses are actually apart of SecuriCare so from the few days before my surgery, I've been very aware of the company. All my information packs have come from there and from day one I've felt really supported. Any questions I had, I either went to my information packs or my stoma nurses (shout out to Jill, Gill, Nicky and Catherine!). SecuriCare are also a delivery company of all things stoma, so all my bags, sprays, LBF wipes and cotton swap things come from them. They can supply all of the brands so it makes it super easy. You either use the online form to order, ring up or email them (shout out to Damien who often emails me to remind me to order 'cause I'm pretty useless at it!). I've used both online ways and they're both really reliable. Living in the deepest depths of Cumbria doesn't seem to delay my orders either, which is defiantly a plus! Don't be afraid to ring that number above if you want more information because the people on the other end are so friendly and helpful!

So there's my exciting news! Keep your eyes peeled for more exciting things on the blog soon and I'll see you all on Friday for a very yummy post