Let’s first start off by saying that 2020 was a crazy year for everybody. With the pandemic rampaging across the nation, our economics in disarray, and many people divided over politics, safety regulations, and just about everything under the sun, 2020 was the craziest year that I’ve been alive. In addition to all this, we were stuck at home for such a long period of time. Never before have I had to stay in my house alone for so long! It was truly a weird experience. Especially for someone like me, who has a stoma, being at home by myself got quite old and monotonous after a while. You might think that someone with a stoma like myself would prefer to stay at home anyways since I would have an easier time hiding my stinking, swelling, repulsive ostomy pouch. Well, a few years ago or so I would have agreed with you, because I was much more insecure about my ostomy pouch back then. Back when I first got my ostomy, I found myself very worried about going out in public. I was scared that my ostomy pouch would randomly start leaking (which by the way rarely happens), or that people would notice my pouch hanging around and start staring or asking me about it.

Well for the most part, I think that these fears are pretty unrealistic. I have come to realize that most people don’t really give a crap about if you have a stoma or not, as long as you’re not stinking up the entire place or something like that. But since the COVId regulations got so strict, I found myself working from home in my office for many months. This meant that I pretty much didn’t have to leave my house for anything at all.

I had groceries delivered to my front porch, all my home goods and necessities delivered from Amazon, and just about anything else I needed I could find online. I was also kind of welcoming to the idea of staying home at first, because I know that I am at a bit higher risk when it comes to having complications with COVID. Believe what you want about COVID, but I am well aware on it’s effect on people like me whose bodies are quite a bit weaker and more susceptible to damage than most. I would venture out to say that I felt like COVID was specifically out to get me of all people. Maybe this sort of paranoia was just a symptom of spending too much time alone in my house though.

Now reading this, you might be wondering where the heck I was getting my ostomy supplies this whole time. Well, I am happy to inform you that there are actually a lot of places online that I can go to order my ostomy supplies. In fact, this pandemic has allowed me to see that ordering ostomy supplies online is probably the way to go. There are a lot more options available than if I were to go in stores somewhere, and the prices are almost unbeatable. Especially nowadays, where shipping has gotten so fast and most times there is no shipping fee added on to the price tag, I don’t think I will go back to shopping for ostomy supplies in a store even after the pandemic has ended (if it ever does).