Hi all,
my name is sue and I just got a colostomy on Jan 4th.  I am a nursing
assistant, and a nursing student, but because of me being sick I have
to take a semester off.  I have never been sick, and all of a sudden
on December 31st I had severe stomach cramps.  Went to the ER, fever
went up to 102.9 and cramps got more severe.  They admitted me to the
hospital, gave me a lot of drugs, and on January 4th did emergency
surgery.  The Doctor said I almost died.  They removed most of my
sigmoid colon and my appendix.  I woke up with a PICC line in the
right arm, IV in the left, drainage tube in my stomach, foley,
nasogastric tube, and oxygen.  I was on 2 antibiotics and TPN for
nutrition. I have never been in so much pain in my life as I was
then.  The Doctor said the beginning of July he will put everything
back to normal.  During my nursing classes I actually wrote a
teaching project to change and clean a colostomy bag.  I am
depressed, but still very thankful to be alive.  I am 46 years old,
with 3 daughters and 4 grandchildren.  One good thing that came out
of this is I will be MUCH more sympathetic to my patients that have
undergone the same things that I have.  I just hope I can learn to
deal with this.
Sue

DEATH TOLL IN THE FOREVER WAR: 1537
**********************************************************
PLEASE DO NOT FEED THE TROLLS.- Thank You
----------------------------------------------------------
"You know I always thought unicorns were fabulous
creatures too, although I never saw one alive before."
"Well, now that we have met," said the unicorn, "If you'll
believe in me, I'll believe in you."
--- Lewis Carrol, "Through The Looking Glass