This past year has been absolutely crazy and we all know it. In fact, I would say that this year was even crazier for me than when I had my ostomy back in 2005. That’s right, I have a stoma and I’m proud of it. It has taken me a long time to feel comfortable in my own skin again after getting an ostomy, but I now know that having a stoma is nothing to be ashamed of. In fact, I have totally gotten used to having a stoma and it is a normal part of my life now. All that to say, this year of the pandemic has been truly insane. Our economy is in ruins, the housing market is in chaos, and people are losing their jobs like crazy. I was originally not in much fear of COVID, because I thought it was mostly just a lot of false hype and fear mongering that was being thrown around it in the name of politics. However, after seeing the death rates and overcrowded hospitals that became the new normal due to COVID, I started to take it very seriously.

What was even more scary is that I am considered to be immune-compromised due to having an ostomy, so I had to be extremely cautious in everything I did. I immediately quarantined myself and refused to go into work anymore. At first management was upset about this, but once people started to realize how serious COVID was for people like me who have an extensive medical history, things became a lot more understanding on their end. Besides, almost everyone of my coworkers were instructed to work at home anyways, so after a while it was no big deal for me to also be at home. I was really afraid of catching the virus because of my ostomy and knew that having COVID could cause serious complications for my stoma and all that. I was not about to go to hospital any time soon as well, so I knew that I had to really take good care of my stoma in order to not have any reason to make a trip to the doctors or to the hospital. 

One way I did this was by ensuring all the ostomy gear I had on hand was of the best quality. Since I’ve had a stoma for so long now, I already know where to get all the best and highest quality ostomy gear that I could ever need. One change I had to make to my life, however, was by ordering everything online. This was a bit of a shift for my everyday purchases, but also for buying my ostomy gear and supplies. I had gotten used to buying my ostomy supplies at a local medical supplies warehouse that had a great selection of products for me to use. The problem was that I did not want to keep going in person to buy from this place anymore. I solved this problem by simply spending a lot of time researching ostomy gear that I could buy online.

Again, I wanted to avoid any and all complications that could occur with my stoma, so I was really careful to properly clean, change, and care for my stoma whenever possible. Some might have even called me paranoid, but I don’t see it like that.