I had a series of operations for bowel cancer in November 2022. First, very neat and discreet keyhole surgery which looked good for 36 hours.Then it became apparent that it hadn't worked i.e it had disconnected, so I had another op and ended up with a stoma and a large scar. Ten days later I had my wound clips removed and that night the wound burst, due to an abdominal hernia. So A&E and another op! Now all clear on the cancer, and chemo tablets for 6 months, which I have literally just finished. Wife and I booked a nice hotel on the Greek island of Kos for July.
I was quite apprehensive about swimming in the hotel pool and the sea and sunbathing - two pastimes I have always loved. My stoma is quite high up and the swimming wraps I looked at on line looked too low such that they would only partly cover the bag - also expensive. I bought a couple of stoma covers (quite cheap) but they would have been useless swimming and not a lot of good sunbathing - probably more eye catching than the plain stoma. My stoma bags are from Fittleworth and are disposable/ non reusable. I am male, 78, use an electric bike and like walking, but not really fit - but I can "hobble" into the sea for a mess about.
The 4 star hotel pool seemed a bit formal and sunbeds were concentrated around the pool so everyone can see everyone else. Consequently I decided NOT to use the pool as I particularly did not want to offend anyone by showing my bag even when empty. Obviously I did not want to embarrass myself, or my wife. Also I had had no experience of being in the water or the hot sun sporting a stoma. Would it fill with water; stay on ok in the water or the hot sun; would the hotel object etc? So gave the hotel pool and sunbathing area a miss. This should not put anyone else off.
So off to explore the beaches. We do not like music on the beach, love sunbeds especially when they not too close together and soon found a great section near the end of the long stretch of beach. A lovely Greek lady called Helen ran this section, with umbrellas and beds, very reasonably priced, and had the great advantage of a simple but very effective and very clean toilet. Also a separate outside shower and also a changing cabin. We had a really great time on this beach, went every day for 7 days with hot sun and temperature close to 30 degrees every day, and the sea was quite rough at times due to the wind but we went in several times every day. From the start, I felt quite relaxed on this beach with my stoma on display and not covered at all. If it filled at all, then off to the loo to change it. Once some sea water got in, not too much, but I changed the bag anyway. I sunbathed, walked to the loo and the shower and spoke quite a bit to Helen and often to other people on the beach as we exchanged short pleasantries. Two waitresses who turned up on the beach one day recognised us as they had served us the night before. They invited us to sit on their beds while we chatted and didn't seem to mind at all that I was wearing my swim shorts and a bag -nothing else not even a towel!
I must say that my wife was very supportive to me in my situation, and gave me lots of positive encouragement and without this I doubt I would have been as bold as I was. Thank you Pauline!
I was extremely happy about my experiences. People either did not realise I had a bag, or more likely I think, they had sympathy with me, perhaps felt sorry for me - generally, people on the beach smiled at me a lot. But I like to think they respected me for not letting my obvious cancer and bag wearing from preventing me (and my lovely wife), from doing what we wanted to and enjoying ourselves so much on the beach and in the sea. We had a great holiday, and I sincerely hope that my little story helps other people who are in a situation the same or similar to mine. Enjoy yourselves and good luck!
