Double Baggin it

This last week I joined the double baggers.
4 years come January I had a urostomy done. Since then I have been taking in as much as possible, only simple unprocessed food. I have used, as far as possible only herbal remedies, and by that I mean stuff I can find mostly in my kitchen.
Turmeric tea, and Jamaican dogwood have been my principle pain relief for my spinal injury: MAGIC.
In those 4 years I have only had one urinary tract infection, and that was in the first couple of months.

Just Woke Up

In the summer the surgeon agreed all other avenues had been explored, the time had come for another diversion: this time the bowel.
On the morning of the operation the surgeon had trouble getting a working vein, so I was put to sleep via gas. 2 1/2hrs later I woke up feeling like a decorated Christmas tree. Instead of the usual white gauge patches on the failed needle sites I had 7 bright green ones. There was a blue cannula looking like baubles hanging off one arm and red allergy bands, and white identity bands on both wrists, looked like the tinsel. I even had stockings under the tree lol. I don't do Christmas someone was having a laugh.
As you can see my lifestyle paid off, concentrated doses of super foods in the run up to this had me bounce out of it within hours. I was fortunate in that it could be done by keyhole surgery. Little scarring on that side so no need for a gaping hole that would form another zip line down the front, Just a couple of extra punctures closed with the dreaded staples.
Again there was little pain relief after the first few hours, aside from paracetamol and my turmeric tea.
Stoma number 2 was named by the following morning. She had a cavernous mouth and knows how to blow, so it had to be Jonah the whale (I know it's a boys name; but I don't care).

Jonah

I had to stay in an extra day as the doctor came round so early I hadn't had chance to prove I could care for my new appendage. I got out in 3 days instead of 5: result!! Not bad going for an old bird who hits 60 next year.
Jonah is so cavernous the nurse had to bring some convex bags out to me today, as yesterday I couldn't get a seal. 3 bags in as many hours. I'll give them emptyable bags, emptied between the skin and the glue I was well fed up, and skin sore. The bloating can get uncomfortable, It makes you look and feel 6 months pregnant.
Now I just have to wait for the stomach wall to heal so I can fully get on with life again.
Anyone else out there double baggin it?

Dec2021 Not 1 infection since end stoma placed: just a little emergency surgery 1 year on. I healed to well and virtually closed the stoma, making it un useable. I was reopened in short order; but skin sensitivity on the left side meant using copious amounts of glue remover until the last 12 months when it has finally calmed down. I have a small but noticeable hernia from having to move just three weeks after the surgery.  The hernia can cause some explosive leaks, because it peels the back off at times. Drinking at ;east 4 litres a day has played a large part in keeping me infection free. Double bagging it has given me back a lot of independence; although I cannot claim to have a fine body shape any more. How can you have a flat tum when you have 2 holes straight through yours stomach wall. Life carries on today and I can still wear a smile

Any Abuse Of Any Child Has Lifetime Effects!

Let me tell you exactly what damage I have in my back before I go further.

L3 had a hairline fracture. L4/5 has a retrolithsesis ( Wikipedia = Retrolistheses are caused by injury and resulting instability of the connecting soft tissues especially ligaments, discs, muscles, tendons and fascia.)  All major nerves from L3 down spent 35yrs at least partially pinched before surgery released them. The scarring on the impinged nerves is visible to the naked eye according to the surgeon who did the work. He also said that on some nerves there was so much scarring, that there is little neuro-pathway left. He advised me to never do a full body stretch again; because as I age that pathway could break. He was amazed at that time that I could still stand let alone walk even my short distances.
That operation was just over 10yrs ago. Some time a couple of years ago I awoke to a loud internal popping noise. As I came to awareness I realised I was in that dreaded full body stretch. My hands were up the headboard pulling, and my legs were pressed on the foot of the bed. I'm barely 5'4" so it was a good stretch. I thought I'd got away with it when I got out of bed that day; although I knew I'd inflamed the nerves as the pain built through the day. The nerves feeding the legs became excessively painful, and every step has been like walking on broken glass. 

Jamaican Dogwood at 5-8 drops a night has been the only thing I have found to keep putting my feet on the floor each day. Every time I leave it off for a few days that awful sensation comes back.
Last winter the same thing happened again: I woke in a full body stretch and that loud internal pop woke me up. My left leg has through this year lost about half of it's lateral muscle mass, and my right leg has started with the deterioration path my left leg took before the wasting.
I was using a manual wheelchair to get about outside; but now have to use an electric one as any pushing my chair up any incline put enough pressure on my lower back to cause the inflammation to rise.
Why am I telling you this now? Well child abuse has been in the forefront this year in the UK; but only sexual abuse. It has felt to me like physical and mental/emotional abuse no longer exist, as sexual child abuse is now referred to as plain "child abuse". 
Any abuse of any child, of any nature has lifetime effects! I am passing my 60th year soon and still have things affect me. I was in my early 30's when someone finally believed I had been abused, and I was offered counselling. That was weird in the extreme for me. It was like I left my body and someone else was telling the story. I felt no emotions, it was just a list of facts that had happened to me. 

In the short term it was a release to have told; but nothing more. My fears, presumptions of people in authority etc. remained in place. Age 49 I had the operation that revealed all, and I felt vindicated. I could no longer be called a liar, a hypochondriac, a drama queen: yet the fears persisted, as did trigger words that would put me in ultra defensive mode.
In my early 50's I got some specialised psychotherapy; which was mind blowing. Two thirds of the way through I had to take a break for a few weeks because I no longer knew what motivated me. My entire life had been based on anger, and suddenly it was gone: I'd done everything up to then to prove the proverbial "them" wrong. I had to learn I could do just because I wanted to, not to prove anything. 
I thought my psychological journey through was done, until this year. Seeing such prominent child sex abuse cases defined under the broad name of "child abuse" and no cases of any other type of child abuse coming up has left me angry again. This summer I also came face to face with a television visual trigger that sent me into a state of panic. I was that child again, in that moment of intense pain, and I was all but physically sick.
Please remember, child sex abuse is not the only child abuse that goes on, and we the physically and emotionally/psychologically abused, also have a lifetime of dealing with the past ahead. Never knowing when it will have an affect on us again, or what could trigger that affect. I am not in any way down playing sexual abuse. I can't imagine what that must be like; but I do know about the effects of the other types.
Children Matter. Below is a link to my story
http://www.amazon.co.uk/YOUR-FATHERS-DAUGHTER-Early-Years-ebook/dp/B007S9XB7U/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1447424634&sr=1-1&keywords=Your+fathers+daughter