1 Year Stomaversary

We made it guys! A year ago today I had my ostomy surgery which removed my large bowel and created a stoma and a mucus fiscula. So much has changed over the past year and I thought it would be good to reflect on the past year with my stoma!

I genuinely cannot believe it's been a whole year since I was in hospital and it feels kind of surreal; part of me feels like I've had my stoma forever and part of me feels like it was only yesterday. 

A year ago vs last week

Even 1 month post op, I was feeling a hell of a lot better than the day the photo on the left was taken however it has been a lengthy process to get to where we are today (and I'm still not 100%) but I will forever be grateful for my ileostomy because it saved and gave me back my life.

scars then vs scars now

Something which I've noticed a lot is how well my scars have healed. In my first ever ostomy post I mentioned how I had my surgery done key hole and my scars are hardly noticeable (FYI they are normally more noticeable than in the bottom photo but I had fake tan on!) 

Another thing I mentioned in my first post was about my shock of my mucus fiscula and I'm going to be honest me and mucus fiscula (also known as Dec) still aren't the best of friends but I've stopped having quite as many leaks thanks to the tape I put on now (more about that in the what's in my stoma bag post). 

first day out of hospital vs last week

Something I've struggled with and been working on this whole year is putting back on the weight I lost during my bad flare and time in hospital and to be honest I've actually found it quite hard to do but I'm finally at a good weight which I'm really pleased with and a lot of that is thanks to my dietitian who helped me!

So, lets finish off this post with a recent #GYBO photo! I also want to say a massive thanks to my family, friends and all of you lovely readers who have supported me this year and also to SecuriCare for all of their support with my stoma and with my blog!