No. Everybody does not poop. I do not. It is physically impossible for me to poop. And the same goes for an estimated 135,000 people living in Canada.

Sure some of these people have colectomies or urostomies so they do actually poop – but they don’t do it the same way as you.

Me. I’m totally different from you. (Unless you have an ileostomy. And if you do – welcome to the cool kids club!). I don’t have a colon. I don’t have a rectum. I don’t have the lower part of my small intestine.

Gone. All of it. And I’m never ever getting back.

I’m forever thankful to the brilliant surgeons who chopped out these organs and put my body back together so I can actually live and enjoy life. Finally, I kind of sorta get to be like you.

If you’re new to knowing about me or reading this blog then this might be a bit of a shock…

Instead of a colon, a rectum, and a butt hole – I have a stoma, an ileostomy, and a pouch. And this is how I get rid of food waste. For me it’s not poop – need a colon to make this, and I don’t have one.

A stoma is the part of my small intestine that sticks out of a hole in my abdomen. It’s through this stoma that I get rid of food waste (technically called chyme). Now this doesn’t just fall on the floor or into my pants – that would be sticky. This stuff is collected into my pouch.

The pouch is basically a small bag that is attached to my abdomen over top of my stoma. Chyme, stomach acid, and gas leaves my body through my stoma and goes into my pouch. I empty my pouch in the toilet. Unlike you, I don’t have sphincters to control when stuff empties into my pouch. So unlike you, I have zero control over how and when my body eliminates food waste.

So unlike you, eating is a big deal for me.

I need to think about what I’m going to eat, when I’m going to eat, and what I’ll be doing after eating. I have to plan my eating very carefully around activities like grocery shopping, attending work meetings, meeting up with friends, going for a walk, riding my bike, playing hockey, going swimming, sleeping, attending concerts, etc. Essentially every activity I do during my day requires me to think about what I might, want, or can eat.

The pouch attached to my body is stuck there with super sticky glue. But sometimes this glue fails. When this happens it is unfun. And messy. This is why I can’t just let my pouch fill up. This can cause a leak and frankly it’s uncomfortable.

Imagine if you taped a balloon to your abdomen and slowly filled it with water. The balloon starts pulling on the tape on your skin. And it starts expanding in size, making it tricky to move your body.

The other thing about my pouch is that I have to change it every 3 – 5 days. Things don’t stick to your skin forever. Think of how hard it is to get a band-aid to stick to your skin. Yep, same situation with a pouch. There are lots of sticky potions and sprays that I use to make my skin tacky to help the flange (this is the part of the pouch that sticks to my skin) stay put. But as you know, nothing is perfect.

So, why am I telling you all this? Because today, October 7 is World Ostomy Awareness Day.

A day for people like me to do our part to raise awareness of how lucky we are to have this second chance at life. It’s a day for us to be extra thankful for the brilliant surgeons, researchers, doctors, and nurses who devote their lives to making my life possible. It’s a day to celebrate how much of a gift it is to be alive.

I’ve said this before but it’s so important, I need to repeat it again: my ileostomy saved my life.

True fact. Without it, I would be dead.

Before August 8, 2016 I was at my physical and mental breaking point. Ulcerative colitis made living extremely painful. I did my best to hide this – so if you knew me before my surgery date, it’s very likely you had no idea how hard living was. Geez, I’m so relieved I kept at it.

Because, look at me know!

When I had my surgery, I gave my stoma a nickname. (Cause this is what us cool kids do – we give our small intestines a nickname.)

I called mine: Reset.

Reset let me hit the reset button my life. It’s my second chance. Reset lets me live and do all the things. Reset makes sure that there are zero limits on what I can do. Reset is a reminder that life is short. Reset keeps me alive.

Thanks Reset – I owe you more than I can ever explain.

Thank you to the super awesome colorectal surgical team at the Ottawa Hospital. Thank you to Dr. Gauthier for agreeing to take my colon out and gifting me Reset. Thank you to Dr. McCurdy for taking such super care of me and understanding that ulcerative colitis is not just about the physical health but also mental health.

Happy World Ostomy Day!

And in case you’re wondering what a person with an ileostomy looks like. Here’s a photo: