It's 5.30am and I'm wide awake but exhausted.
I've just got back into bed after having to sort out a bag leak.
I must have been in a deep sleep cause usually if I get a leak I will wake up before it gets too bad but this one had lifted the base plate of the stoma bag, covered my knickers and pad and soaked right through my pj bottoms. The only good thing is that it didn't go on the bedding otherwise I would be changing all that too.
One of the large bowels job is to absorb water from stool. Not having one means that my output (another word for poo) is much more liquidy as a result.
So when your bag leaks it means that you can end up covered, and I mean COVERED, in shit.
The other problem is that being hooked up to my TPN with its pump and rucksack I can't have a shower to get clean so I had to have a Glastonbury shower instead... a good strip wash using a packet of baby wipes!
Times like this do really piss me off. The simple act that most people take for granted of having a shower is something that I have to meticulously plan. Having a shower means that:
1) I have to change my stoma bag which can take anything from 5 minutes to goodness knows how long depending on how recently I've eaten and drank. If I've not long eaten then stool can be pouring out (imagine when a baby boy wees when the nappy is off and you will get the picture) and then trying to change the bag is impossible. My all time record is 2 hours! Maybe I could get into the Guinness book of records??
2) I have to change the dressing that covers my Hickman line. This has to be done in a sterile way so it involves laying out a sterile table to clean and redress the line.
3) My hair is falling out something terrible at the moment, something the doctors think may be due to either the medication, a vitamin deficiency due to not being able to absorb things properly at the moment or the trauma of being so poorly for so long on my body. So if I wash my hair I end up with handfuls of hair, the plug hole completely blocked and me wondering if I will need to call my friend who has recently finished chemo treatment for breast cancer and ask if I can borrow her wig now that she's no longer using it!
All of the above means that having a 'quick' shower can take anything from 30 minutes to a good few hours.
Sorry, I'm feeling a little bit sorry for myself. Every now and again it just gets too much and I wish I could just go to bed for the night without having to deal with all if this.
Now I've got that all off my chest I will try and get another hour or 2 of sleep before the kids wake up. Only problem is that hubby is snoring away oblivious to me being up and the chances of me getting any more sleep are slim to say the least.
I sense an afternoon nap later.
NB x
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