So my journey started way back in the early months of 2023 when I started loosing blood in my stools and on exploration the hospital discovered I had a polyp in my bowel, this was swiftly removed and all confirmed as benign. However bleeding continued on through the yr and the words from the surgeon when i was having it removed ‘I’m not sure I managed to remove it all’ lurked in the back of my mind. I kept going back to the drs who seemed to just brush it off with it’s still early days/your still healing/it might be piles etc but I eventually went for a colonoscopy in Jan 2024 to check and they discovered a rather large polyp had regrown or continued to grow from the part the dr obviously hasn’t got. I was told it was too big to remove via colonoscopy this time so would need an operation. It seemed like forever waiting for an operation date- still bleeding along with many other side effects from the polyp like nausea/back pain/dizzyness. The day finally arrived and after starving myself and pooping for England after bowel prep I went under with a sigh of relief and anticipation things would get better after this. Sadly waking up in recovery I was told the operation hadn’t gone to plan and biopsies had been taken from the polyp but it still remained in tact- my heart slumped. I then waited a further 7 long/anxious months to get another operation date with a more specialised surgeon and went through it all again. This time removal was successful however again more complicated than expected so I had a ileostomy. Obviously this is a massive change to a 44 year old mother of 2 boys who is normally active and a social butterfly but I will get back there. I’m only week 1 post op so still feeling tender and getting used to (after a friend suggesting I needed a name )Sid the stoma. I have everything crossed that biopsy results due in a week or so will finally be positive and put the fairy on top of the Christmas tree for me this yr!
Any fellow stoma wearer advice, stories etc are most welcome here
Thank you
