Nightmare during a lovely few days

Hey Guys,

As I said in my last post, last week was very busy.
Tuesday and Wednesday was spent working with a family I have helped out for over two years. I spent both days with my four year old best mate! Poor little guy broke his arm a few weeks ago, but didn't seem too fussed by the huge cast! The first day I saw him the cast was bright red and according to him smelt of strawberries, he tried to get me to have a whiff and in the process smacked me in the nose with his arm. There is something about working with children that makes you forget about your worries.


Due to many reasons, including my surgery, we hadn't organised a family holiday this year so we decided to organise a few days of fun and activities. So Thursday we headed down to the coast to have a go at GO APE. For those that don't know, Go Ape involves putting on a harness, strapping your self to trees and completing an assault course in the tree tops. All sounds great right?! Except I am really not a fan of heights and have no strength or fitness at the moment. I was even the one to suggest it... looking back, I'm not sure why!
Margaret had been feeling funny that morning, I kept checking to make sure things were okay and for the first few hours she seemed to be behaving. After having a training session we were all ready to head up in to the trees. It was at this point that Margaret decided to leak, everywhere. I had a bit of an inward panic as I stood there, with a group of strangers and a huge harness on. I quietly told Mum and then had a word with the instructor, explaining I had a dressing that needed changing quickly. I then whipped the harness off and ran back to the car where I had spare Margaret stuff. It was here that I could have my first proper look at what had happened. The adhesive had all but completely come away causing all the output to spill out on to my skin and yes, down my leg on to my underwear and leggings. Brilliant! I stared in horror wondering how on earth I was going to clear all this up. Thank god I am not squeamish because it really wasn't a pretty sight.
So there I stood, at the boot of my car, top rolled up and tucked in to my bra, leggings and pants rolled down taking dodgy bag off. Hello world!
A cyclist rode past but I don't think she caught a glimpse, poor lady would have hit a tree at the site of me if she had. I eventually managed to clear myself up and in record time, unfortunately I didn't have any spare clothes but luckily the output hadn't had a chance to soak in to my leggings. Phew!
I headed back to the first tree, to meet my waiting Dad where I was re harnessed before climbing up the tree, spider man style. The course was divided in to four sections and I managed to complete two of them alongside my Dad before deciding that enough was enough. I was exhausted, the course is physically quite tough even for someone who hadn't spent a year very unwell and had had major surgery 2 months before. I was a bit gutted I had't completed the challenge, mainly because I didn't get a certificate. Dad came down with me and we headed to have an ice cream and a drink whilst waiting for my Mum and brothers to finish the course. They of course loved it. The lovely people at Go Ape gave me a voucher to be able to come back and complete the course when I was physically better and able to finish the whole thing, which is so so nice of them and totally unexpected!
We then headed to a gorgeous pub to have lunch, where Margaret again leaked - cue the second change of the day. I spent a while trying to find the disabled toilet as the women's cubicles were tiny.
After lunch we had a wonder around a lovely village in the New Forest after which I decided to head home absolutely cream crackered. We had driven down in two cars so my family stayed to do some more site seeing. On arriving home I finally got to take off the clothes and have the best shower. Margaret needed changing AGAIN before I had a nap after an exhausting day!

Friday came round and we headed off to the beautiful city of Oxford.
I really did have the best day! We went up the mound, shopped and walked around the city, which is so so lovely. We had lunch at one of my favourite restaurants and had a drink at a lovely pub by the river.

Arriving home Margaret leaked and needed changing. It was now starting to get me down, I couldn't work out why the bags I had been using for months were now deciding to play up, I hadn't eaten anything dodgy or changed my Margaret routine at all. I rang for my stoma nurse who turns out is on holiday! I managed to instead get an appointment with another nurse for the following Monday (today).  I woke up the next morning to, yes, you guessed it another leak. This time I heard the adhesive pop before it leaked over my tummy. Poor Matt was also witness to that one, ordering me, in my sleepy haze, to go to the bathroom before opening the windows and blasting my room with his deodrant. The poor guy! The things he has to put up with.

Saturday I began house sitting for the same family I mentioned earlier. It's nice to have some space and a house to myself and Matt. As much as I love my family I am starting to really crave my own place. I am in charge of two dogs and three cats whilst the family are away. I love dogs but am allergic to cats so seem to spend much of my stay sneezing.
Despite the leaks and Margaret being a nightmare, I decided to still head out for a night out with my friends. I had a really great night with everyone, barely thinking about Margaret and thank fully she was in a good mood and didn't leak or act up!

Today I had my appointment with the new stoma nurse, who is lovely. I arrived and explained everything that had gone on in the past few days. She decided the best cause of action was to complete a patch test on my tummy to see which bags I am allergic to and which I am okay with. Hopefully there will be at least one which I don't react to and then I can change over and leave these leaky bags behind. As I have said before I am notoriously allergic to many things so I have had many skin patch tests in the  past, although they involved little drops of contaminated liquid and tiny needles. I now have little cut slithers of the adhesive from each bag stuck to me. If I have an allergic reaction I am instructed to take the adhesive off, leaving me with the ones I am not allergic to for when I see the nurse on Friday.

Margaret has shrunk quite a bit in the past week or two, and my tummy has gotten a bit flatter, I am thinking maybe this is why the bags have started to leak. The wonders of living with a bowel disease eh!

Hopefully it will all get under control soon, I will of course let you know how I get on.

Lots of love
xxx