Found: 1 bellybutton

I've been away on a trip to my family recently, so haven't posted as much as I would have liked, but wanted to just post a little note on how things seem to be coming along quite nicely. Having my stoma and ileostomy bag are starting to become normal, helped massively by the fact that I'm now very nearly back up to full strength and my incision scars have healed to the point whereby they don't bother me at all.

The latter has made such a difference; one of the main reasons being that sleeping is now easy and natural. Despite the heat that we've had recently, I've found myself being more comfortable when I sleep: I can roll over, sleep on my side, and even sometimes for short periods on my stomach without feeling uneasy. I've also learned that my body is good at waking me when my bag is full, so I don't worry so much about leakages in bed. Depending on when I eat during the day, I usually have to get up once (sometimes twice) in the night to empty, which is a pain, but not painful (like the colitis was).

Anyway, the other thing I wanted to note was that, today, I found my bellybutton! This may seem ridiculously un-noteworthy to those of you with obvious bellybuttons, but I had seriously thought that the surgeons had sewn mine up, to be lost forever beneath a bumpy scar (as I had an emergency operation, I couldn't have key-hole surgery, so have a big scar down my tummy). But... no! Whilst in the shower this morning, I went to scratch my scar and there it was, a tiny, 1cm-long bellybutton. It's not the same, obviously, but it's there, and that made me feel oddly happy.

The day that alcohol was not my friend

I am seriously ashamed. The other day, I was drunk. Very drunk. So drunk that I was ill, which has only ever happened once before (when I was much younger and more naive), and it was completely my own fault.

I've mentioned before that my husband & I go to some gin events. My favourite tipple is scotch whisky. We enjoy alcohol and probably drink more of it than lots of people we know, but it's very rare that we drink excessively. When I had recovered from my operation to the point where I felt strong enough to try a drink, I did. And I was fine. No problems whatsoever. So the next time we were out, I tried two drinks, and - again - I was okay. The other day, I was not okay.

I know why I wasn't okay: I didn't drink enough water. I was ridiculously stupid. There was one pitiful moment where I went to the bathroom, only to be shocked at seeing my bag. I had genuinely forgotten that it was there and - more seriously - that I now dehydrate even more quickly than I used to. Subconsciously, I think I wanted to forget about it and just "be normal" again for the evening. I think this is covered in my occupational health report by the comment that I "haven't yet come to terms with the long-term effects of [my] illness". <sigh>

The main reason I'm posting this is to encourage anyone with a new ileostomy to keep on top of their hydration, especially when drinking alcohol and in the warmer weather. From various forum threads that I've read, alcohol seems to effect different ileostomates differently (some people find themselves less likely to get drunk than beforehand, whereas others have given alcohol up completely), but the lesson that I've learned - the hard way - is two-fold:

1. Take it slow. So slow that there's absolutely no danger of your "forgetting" to take it slow. Basically, ensure that you stay self-aware.
2. Keep yourself well-hydrated.

I'm going back to only having two (alcoholic) drinks on an evening out and we'll see where things go from there.