Growing up in the mid-west has left some huge impressions on my life. One of those is enjoying a great sunset in the fields as far as you can see. Another impact is that I am now a lifelong diehard basketball fan. That is because when we are born our parents are putting basketballs in our hands and expecting us to be NBA players by the time we are in High School. It is a hilarious and pretty good thing that our state does and it just means that everyone has a big thing in common and that is enjoying playing basketball. I like to think I am pretty good, but when I ended up finding out that I was going to get an ostomy I was afraid I would never play again. Luckily, life had other meanings for me, and that my fear was simply unfounded. The truth is that if you have a stoma that almost everything you could do before you can do now. And the reality is that you could probably do a whole lot more than your body is even capable of and your stoma won't hold you back.
What I mean is that I have seen people do Iron Man Competitions and run marathons with a stoma. I know that my body could never do those things no matter how much training I put it through and yet my stoma would not get in the way of me trying. Seeing other people do those feet gave me a lot of hope and allowed me to push through my fear and find the best ostomy gear for my body. My ostomy nurse gave me lots of good information and got me to know the basics of how to live and gave me advice to talk to others as well.
I spend a lot of time contacting major manufacturers and also my local pharmacist to learn about the gear I would need to get me back on the court. Well back on the court after a good amount of time healing and then getting my body back in shape. I am now more prone to hernias with my stoma and I know that I need to be careful not to overdo things too soon. So I like to now talk to people who make gear and sell ostomy gear because they all have a good aspect on what sells and why. I like gear that works for me and manufacturers will send me samples to try things. If it works and I am able to be more active with feeling less movement and having less movement on the ostomy gear I will happily buy more from teh company. It is an amazing system and free samples from these companies improve my life and then I am happy to repay that with loyalty and purchasing from those companies.
Playing basketball now is something that I love doing. I am happy to now use smaller bags that fit my stoma perfectly. The seals and mesh are amazing and with the new elastic belt and belted bags that I use I am able to be super active. I love the new gear I have and it allows me to not feel my ostomy bag during my jogging and shooting on the court.
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