Eight months ago today I had surgery to remove the whole of my large intestine.

It’s been a busy and at times stressful 8 months but throughout it all I remind myself that life with an ileostomy bag is SO MUCH EASIER than life with Ulcerative Colitis!

There have been good times and bad in the past few months, I have traveled to Vietnam and Australia and I have faced difficulties with developing a hernia and making the decision to go ahead with pouch surgery.

They tell you it can help to deal with the process of having a stoma to name it, my sister came up with the name Barack Ostoma which I think is brilliant, because my stoma, like me, is no regular boring one, it is an all singing, all dancing bad ass!!

In 11 days I will have my pouch surgery and wave goodbye to Barack, and though this feels like the right decision for me I will be ever grateful to these 8 months of living with an ileostomy bag, not only has it allowed me to come off all the many meds I was taking, but it has rid me of all the awful symptoms of Ulcerative Colitis that I had suffered with for ten years.  

It did something else though, it made me reassess the things that were important to me, the way I see myself and the way I want to live my life.  It made me a more confident person and it gave me the opportunity to share my story with all you dear readers, to make a difference to people with IBD, to raise awareness in the general public and to push myself into making decisions to speak in public and put myself out there as a mouthpiece for those suffering and living with chronic diseases.

It has made me a better person.

So on my 8 month stomaversary, I raise a glass to everyone living with a stoma, dealing with IBD or anyone living with chronic illness.  You all kick arse, you are braver than you think, stronger than you can imagine and are so bad ass.

Sam xxxxxx