This is my first Blog – ever! I have said for ages now that I would do one, but somehow just never got around to it. So it’s now or never.

What am I blogging about? Well a variety of topics, but mainly, life with an Ostomy. I will talk about everything from drinking champagne to getting fit, so it won’t revolve entirely around my Ostomy but will show how life goes on.

So what is an Ostomy? I will go into more detail as the posts go on but basically an Ostomy is “an artificial opening in an organ of the body, created during an operation such as a colostomy, ileostomy, or gastrostomy; a stoma.” For me, I have an Ileostomy, which is where my small intestine has been brought through my stomach and the waste from it is collected in a stoma bag. Stoma comes from the Greek word for opening or mouth. It looks sore but actually has no nerve endings so is painless.

There are around 100,000 people in the UK currently living with a stoma, it is relatively uncommon yet there are more of us than you would realise.

I have mine as I has Ulcerative Colitis (UC). UC is a condition for which there is no cure and is a debilitating bowel disease. Sometimes it can be kept under control with medication but in my case, after years of suffering, there was no other choice but to remove my large bowel as it was perforating and therefore life threatening. I will elaborate on my story in later posts but for now will keep it brief and simple.

So in August 2011 I awoke after emergency surgery to discover that I had  stoma and bag attached to me and so my journey began. I intended to start blogging then, as I could talk about my recovery and my acceptance, but as I say I never got around to it!

I am writing this blog as I want to help others who may be facing their own bowel surgery journey and are worried about what will happen to them or for those that live with a bag and struggle with it. But it is also to try and break down some of the taboos and stigma attached to stomas & bags and let people know that it is nothing to be ashamed of and nor does it mean your life will stop. I hope that I can inspire and help people.

I won’t just be blogging about the stoma but life in general, for example, my love of champagne and my road to fitness. I will be honest & it will all be my own word and will be from the heart. I don’t claim to be a writer or a comedienne but I hope there will be humour and fun along the way. Hopefully, even those without a stoma can relate to some of my posts and those facing or living with a stoma will take inspiration.

There is also another reason for me starting this blog, I work for a marvelous Bowel Cancer Charity, called Beating Bowel Cancer. I only started there last year, but it has really inspired me. I recently ‘came out’ by doing a presentation to the staff about living with a stoma, so now everyone knows there really is no excuse!

So that’s me and my blog in a nutshell and now I have given you some history I look forward to telling some more stories!