A Short piece about Shorts...

Before my operation I had the abiding worry that I wouldn't ever be able to wear cycling shorts again, and I searched all over the internet and found no firm advice. I am handy with a sewing machine, so I made a couple of "skorts". But I am delighted to say that I wasted my time. 

If anyone is out there wondering about whether it's possible to wear cycle shorts with an ostomy let me reassure you - YOUR BAG WON'T SHOW AT ALL. The bottom opening sits behind the very top of your pad. If your bag fills it'll bulge a bit, but when it's empty it's invisible, and your friends will never mind your little bulge. You'll be emptying it pretty soon anyway, you already know where all the local loos are. 

I carry a pair of surgical gloves and a bit of loo roll for emptying it behind a hedge - when I'm done I hold the loo roll in one hand, take the glove off around it, and take the other glove off around that. Then it goes in my back pocket so that I leave nothing behind except what nature can cope with. 

So cycle shorts are in. In fact, every single article of clothing I wore before I can still wear. I've splashed out a bit and bought bib shorts - vastly superior for comfort but I couldn't wear them before!

The First 500

It's November and all too soon we will be moving into 2016. This year, 2015, has of course been a difficult one for me but now the worst is over, and I feel better than I ever believed that I could. All sorts of good things await me in 2016 but let me first enjoy the here and now.

Since my operation in June I have had not one day, not a single one, where I have had any kind of sustained stomach pain or any kind of tummy-related illness. I feel simply fabulous.

Fabulous, but not fit. I am riding my bike again, but not as far, nor as fast, as I did when I wasn't ill before my operation. Of course, I was often ill. In fact, as fitness only comes after sustained (ie consistent) exercise, I was never really fit. I had too many periods away from my bike when my bottom was cemented to the loo.

It is quite possible then, that I may hope to get at least as fit as I was before, maybe even fitter.

So how am I doing?

Well my first ride was 3 miles. My longest solo ride has been 35 miles, and my longest tandem ride was a tortuous 55 miles, after which I felt that a bullet to the head would have been kind. Altogether, in a great many little rides, I have covered about 500 miles, the greater majority of them enormously pleasurable.

Miles ridden with friends are usually better than miles ridden alone, miles ridden with friends in good scenery are even better. And miles ridden with friends in good scenery and nice weather are best of all.

So here's a picture of me riding with all of that.

I have set no firm targets, but I did dare a little hope which was that by the time Christmas came, I would be able to ride 30 hilly miles. So I think I am home and dry on that one. I'll feel I am somewhere near to normal when 50 miles solo do not exhaust me.

Did I mention that it was hilly around here? I think my first 50-miler might be in a flatter, warmer Spain, in the New Year!

Sunny Days and Rainy Days

For the time being, my only exercise (apart from going up and down the stairs) is walking. Each day I try to get out for a short walk, and now (I can say with great pleasure) I don't have to lie down afterwards.

Before my operation, my reluctant walks were tense and nervous activities, and very rare indeed. If I walked in open fields I hoped for hedges to dash behind, but often there were dog walkers about, limiting my choices. If I walked in town, I would sometimes have to knock on the door of a stranger and ask if I could use their loo – I've been known to get off a bus to do this, in the days before I stopped using buses. Very few people ever refused, but the kindness of those who allowed me their facilities only made me feel worse about myself and my affliction.

So whether my little walks are doing anything for my legs I can't say; but they are certainly doing something for my mind.

I live in the sticks, so my walks, however short, involve some uphill walking. And they involve inclement weather, because I have missed my Summer and I must make the most of whatever weather comes my way. But the freedom to walk without a nappy, the happiness I feel being free from the stress of possible unforeseen need, these things make up for any amount of adverse conditions. It's just fabulous to get out there.

Though I missed my Summer, there are lots of good things in my diary for the end of this year and the beginning of next. For now though, I just have my little walks. In the rain today, I said hello to the good times.

They're not around the corner, they are here.

Texel Tupps - maybe not too pretty, but anything I see when I manage to get out of my house seems beautiful to me!

To Green or not To Green...

I've always tried to do my bit for the planet. For years, I cycled to work; at home we recycle everything we can. The mantra of the environmentally aware is “reduce, re-use, recycle”, in that order. Unfortunately as an ostomate, re-using is out of the question, and almost all of my used products go into landfill.

I know there are some products out there which might help me to “greenify” myself a bit, such as flushable liners. I hope to try them one day. But for the moment, I have made the personal vow to “reduce” as much as possible. This means that every sample product I have had, every product I have learned that I don't like, and every product which isn't as practical as I wish (ie it's too small), I will nevertheless use. I have a few sample products to which it seems I have an allergy; these will be sent to a charity company which sends unwanted items to those in need overseas. But excepting those, I will use everything. I have vowed to myself that I will throw nothing away unused.

There will be a time when all of my less-than-perfect stock is used up, and then I will just use the products I like. But for now, this is the best I can do from an environmental point of view. It may not be ideal but I must get used to it. This is my new, adjusted way of living by my long-held values.

Somewhere along the road...

Finally, the end is in sight. The end of my recovery, that is. I'm somewhere along the road at which recovery ends and the return to normal life begins. It's not been easy.

I had a rather prolonged initial recovery time, a pretty wretched time in fact as I was in hospital for three days longer than planned and I was re-admitted 10 days later with complications. And I still have a few minor problems remaining, in particular my wound, which still hasn't healed fully. Until it heals, I dare not do any exercise other than walking and my walks are pretty short. I daren't throw my leg over a bike for fear of opening up that wound again. So in my plentiful spare time I have been testing out some of the products which are now a part of my life. 

I have added a page at the top entitled "Product Reviews", which sounds a whole lot more formal than it is. After all, I'm just one woman and my testing is a long way from scientific! But for any help it may give to anyone else, I thought I would commit to paper the results of the testing I have done. 

In about three weeks, my husband is organising a group of friends on a weekend of mountain biking around Rhayader. I will be going along and, although I won't be taking part, I intend to take a bike (the one in the picture below). I will be ten weeks post-surgery and I hope to be able to ride, just a little bit, because on present projections, my wound will have healed. There are some flat cycle paths and maybe I can slowly and painfully ride a handful of miles. And I'll have no clothes crises, as MTB clothes leave much more room for modesty than road cycling clothes. I'll be wearing baggy MTB shorts or even a skirt!