Hi,
To the wonderful people of India...
I know there is a social stigma associated with having an ostomy. For that reason, my heart goes out to those of you who may have, or need to have, an ostomy.
At the age of three, my son had his colon removed -- thankfully -- to rid his body of ulcerative colitis. At 47, I had my colon removed for the same reason. Having dealt with illness, and having had a son who already had an ostomy, made electing surgery easy for me... I embraced the thought of how good I might feel after surgery and once fully recovered. Three years later, I refer to having my ostomy as nothing more than an inconvenience... Surgery was not required to save my life, but my quality of life was saved! I no longer frequent rest rooms, eat without fear, and feel secure everywhere I go.
I recently mentioned to a coworker that I'd had my colon removed. He then asked something to the effect of, what does that mean as far as changes to the body? I provided a general overview of the surgery, gently placed my hand over my lower-right abdomen, and revealed that I have an ostomy bag. I felt good about having shared that part of my life.
I believe that ostomy awareness is greatly needed in India. To whatever extent you can help raise awareness you would have done a great deed for humanity. The only shame would be for someone to forgo life-changing, if not life-saving, surgery because of what others might think.
Relatively few people know that I have an ostomy, but I am not shy to talk about it if the subject were to come up or if I thought it might benefit someone to know about it.
Please help raise ostomy awareness in India through whatever channel you feel most comfortable, be it through discussion, social media, or otherwise.
An ostomy can be kept under wraps, literally, but there is no shame in having one.
Let's work together to ensure that there are, "No More Secrets".
My best to you and everyone in India!
From,
Stoma Brothers
#NoShame #NoMoreSecrets