Snappin' a photo where the sun don't shine
I never thought I would post this picture to my blog, but somebody asked - and I had given the green light to questions.Anna wondered:
"What is there now where your anus used to be? Is it, like, stitched up or something?"
Pictures are worth a thousand words, right?
but even so, I still have more to say about this. I was cut up my ass crack, and my anus and rectum were completely removed. there was an open wound there after the surgery, and it took about a year for it to heal from the inside out.
Sex was a bit scary for the first few years after the surgery because a penis can (and did a couple times) slip out of my vag and ram into where my anus was. Of course, my nightmare of it actually tearing the wound open again never happened, but I was so scared of that.
Not anymore though. It's sealed SHUT and mostly with scar tissue.
posted by ~mypinkbutton~ at 04:37
12 Comments:
I found your site as I was trying to educate myself about colon cancer after the news came out that White House spokesman Tony Snow's cancer has returned (he had his colon removed and now, unfortunately, the cancer has spread to his liver).
Before I started poking around on the internet out of my own curiosity, I knew next to nothing about ostomies...and now, thanks to blogs like yours, I feel fairly well-educated about what people who have had these surgeries go through every day. I admire how you (and others who blog about this) have such a good attidute about yourselves, your illness, and the surgical cure for your illness that left you without a functioning bowel---something that I find distressing to even imagine. You very clearly have a lot of personal strength, and I truely admire it.
Thanks for sharing with us these very personal details about your life and good luck with everything.
10:39 p.m., April 20, 2007
Technically, people with ostomies do have functioning small bowels. The colon doesn't do much other than store waste, and absorb water. The small intestine adapts and absorbs water for us. The bag stores waste fine.
It may be difficult to imagine, but illness is really severe, but usually unseen due to its nature.
I believe Tony Snow has ulcerative colitis that turned to cancer. He has a J-Pouch, which means that his intestine was sewn to his anus, leaving a semi-normal path for waste to exit.
11:49 p.m., April 22, 2007
Hey! Nice work on the AP-resection scar. Just found your site. I have tried to look at my scar, but i cant get my head around that far :-/ must get a photo...
My scar took about a year to heal too and i ended up getting a special vacuum dressing to heal it quicker. Loadsa drugs and crazy shit later it finally healed.
12:51 p.m., April 24, 2007
Is it still open seasons for questions, if so (and this is more of a request than a question), could you post a picture of you wearing the poo bag? I guess I'm just curious about how it sits against your body.
Thanks for an informative blog.
10:12 a.m., April 25, 2007
just scroll down to my photo story!
4:02 p.m., April 25, 2007
You are so friggin hilarious, I love you. I love your BS-free honesty. You're amazing. Thank you for your wonderful blog.
1:45 p.m., April 30, 2007
I'm glad I found your blog, it really got me prepared for my surgery. Incidentally, I was reading it when the surgeon came in to tell me I was going to have emergency surgery involving a colostomy. I had diverticulitis that spawned an abscess which, when improperly drained, caused peritonitis. Thank you for your blog, and your true to life stories of the goings on involving your osotomy. While my colostomy may only be temporary, this is an experience that will follow me for the rest of my life.
3:44 a.m., May 04, 2007
Thank you so much for answering my question! :)
2:44 a.m., May 15, 2007
Hi! I'm a painter. I have a page on an art site, a kind of myspace for artists. I look through other people's work constantly and last night came across this: http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/crits
/index.php?showpic=5590 (Sorry, couldn't fit it all on one line.)
I thought it was an amazing painting and an amazing self portrait. I looked up Ulcerative Colitis today which I'd known about only superficially previous. (Not the same as Chron's Disease, I know.) Through an unretracable serious of links, I found your site. It's great. You're great.
3:29 p.m., May 16, 2007
I've wondered what that would look like. Thanks for braving it to share with us. I have an ileostomy but still have a rectal stump that needs to be yanked out. Getting it scoped this month but the GI and transplant people tell me that I should get it removed due to the cancer risk.
I've chatted with others who said it takes a long time to heal. They also said sitting on a O-ring cushion won't help as it spreads the cheeks and makes it worse. I've heard of the vacuum pump thing to help healing. I had a fairly deep chest opening from a liver trasnplant but it didn't take a year to heal using the old wet to dry packing. Any other tips for this surgery and healing afterwards?
10:10 a.m., June 05, 2007
I didn't know that I would be closed shut. What a surprise! So time passes and I'm sitting on the toilet after peeing. I wipe myself the same as always and then as a force of habit I wipe my anus. I once asked my doctor if I should keep doing that. I said you know I didn't wipe my arm in the past, should I still wipe my rear? He thought that was funny and never answered.
7:52 p.m., December 15, 2008
mypinkbutton.blogspot.com is very informative. The article is very professionally written. I enjoy reading mypinkbutton.blogspot.com every day.
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6:10 p.m., November 23, 2009
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