This one’s my oldest, so far. It’s a really interesting and detailed chronological history of England spanning from around 1100bc until 1600ad. I can only imagine all the people who have flipped through these pages over the last 426 years .
Thought y’all might like this one. It’s a super interesting read on surgical procedures, medicines and ailments from 1699. Some of the remedies used back then are absolutely wild. I love reading old pieces like this. Such a cool little snapshot in history and it’s fascinating to think about how many other hands have flipped through these very same pages over the last Three centuries.
I came home after work today to a note on my door from FedEx saying delivery attempted but no recipient available to sign. I’ve never had a problem with getting my supplies delivered from Edgepark since I got home after surgery 7 months ago. Has anyone else run into this recently with Edgepark? I’m hoping they haven’t switched to signature required for all their orders now. I could see on my camera that he took the package back to the truck so it wasn’t just a generic note because he didn’t have the package or something. It’s the same order I’ve always been getting so I don’t think it’s a value related thing as I haven’t added anything to the order since my last shipment. I’m at work from 5:30am-6pm so I’d never be home when they deliver.
Hey y’all! Male mid 30s here. I’ve noticed a pattern in my flares coinciding with hot summer temperatures. Back in Summer of 2024 right about this time I had my first flare of I what I eventually suspected to be UC. I had diarrhea and pretty substantial urgency for about three months with an increasing amount of blood in the final weeks before it resolved on its own. I never sought medical treatment but suspected possible UC, especially if it happened again.
Last summer right around this exact time it happened again but much more severe with massive blood loss and I lost 40lbs in two weeks before being admitted to the hospital for 2.5 months. I was diagnosed with UC at that time and given several blood transfusions along with every form of treatment from, iv steroids and Mesalamine to biologic infusions but had no response to any of them and continued to lose weight while on TPN before eventually having a sub-total colectomy forced on me. Had a bad perforation and infection, peritonitis all that fun stuff after surgery and have been recovering slowly ever since. Finally back up 25lbs from the 90lbs I was at when discharged but now I’m having flare symptoms again from the rectal stump.
It’s mid 90 deg temps right now and over the last few days I’ve been having more and more urgent and increasingly bloody rectal stump discharges with the familiar feeling of my guts being wrung out like a wet towel. Just like my big flare last summer. I’ve been getting more and more discouraged with trying to live with ileostomy and have been really afraid to seek medical care again out of fear of surgery or hospitalization, especially after getting 20, 000$ in bills from last summer.
Have any of y’all been through something similar? Especially with the summer temps? Just trying to find some ways to get last few inches of remaining bowel to chill the hell out haha. Appreciate it!
Currently out in the field at work, covered in grease and oil with no bathroom access and my barrier ring has given up completely. I’m on day two with this pouch which is infuriating. The hot weather and sweating along with the constant activity, lifting, crouching, climbing and laying in awkward positions seems to have been a recipe for disaster .
I posted the other day when I was having a bad day and really appreciated the advice but many of you were curious about the details and placement of my stoma and I hadn’t posted any photos so I just thought I’d share here. First several photos are my current situation right now and the last two show how my stoma is placed and the close proximity to my bellybutton/ incision area. I have spoken with my stoma nurse about things a while ago when I was having almost daily blowouts at work which was mostly worked through but now that hot weather has arrived it’s a whole new set of challenges. I’ve also reached out to both Hollister and coloplast and tried their samples but found my original Hollister soft convex two piece works best. I’m going to try to patch this up with skin tac wipes like I usually do and find a local wocn to talk to. I’m just so over all of this. Having an ostomy is clearly not for me.
Male, mid 30s here. I hate making these kind of posts. You’ve all been amazing and should be so proud of yourselves for being able to get through life with an ostomy and not only remain so positive and grateful for everything but also continue to be so helpful and supportive.
I went through a rough time mentally a few months ago when I finally returned to work after my surgery, which I had a little over 9 months ago. I was dealing with multiple blowouts and catastrophic leaks at work per week. Having to drag through the workday with output on me and my clothes and just generally having a rough time. I took some great advice from so many of you and was able to start getting two or three days out of my pouches without any more bad leaks at work and I really appreciate the help.
I’m at a point now where I feel I should be so thankful that my ostomy saved my life but I’m just so overwhelmed and exhausted trying to keep up with it. Having to constantly empty it and rinse/ clean out the pouch spout all day long. The dreaded bag changes every day or two. Trying to patch up leaks throughout the day with skintac wipes and the constant discomfort from my ostomy site is all so exhausting.
I struggle just to drag myself through the workday and just come home and lay in bed. I don’t eat dinner anymore because my ostomy goes nuts all night. I always have to get up at around 3 am to empty the pouch and then oversleep and end up late for work. I’ve been late so many times and gotten several tickets on the way into work as a result of it. My managers have been really supportive which makes me feel even worse but I have been kind of informally demoted as they asked me to start coming in 30 mins later and quietly stripped away my management responsibilities. I just train the new employees now, doing entry level work and don’t really ever get to work with my buddies anymore. I’ve been at my job for ten years now and feel a little embarrassed seeing the new guys that I trained get promoted to positions higher than mine.
I’m still thankful I have my job and my benefits though.
I just wish I was a little better at adjusting to this new life with my ostomy because I see so many of you all here doing such an incredible job at navigating it all. I’m currently just laying here in bed at 12:30 pm on my day off. I haven’t showered or done anything but eat breakfast and empty my pouch several times. I have so many things I need to get done on my few days off. I need to wash my piles of laundry, clean my house, do yard work, and make some major repairs on my vehicle because my inspection has expired but I just feel so damn overwhelmed and I just shut down and default to doing nothing. Which of makes me more depressed and disappointed in myself.
I have managed to do a lot of work still despite all of this. I replaced my brakes and exhaust manifold gaskets, I mowed my grass and made it through another week of work all while managing my ostomy so I do I try to give myself credit where due but I can’t help but think I should be doing better by the 9 month mark since my ileostomy. I just feel like I spend such a huge amount of my time and energy dealing with my ostomy that I don’t have enough left for the rest of life.
Anyone else always get the craziest output in the mornings? From around 2am until late morning my ostomy just goes nuts. I have to get up around 3 am to empty and then by like 6 it just goes wild for a bit. I actually don’t mind the liquid output because it’s so much less work to empty and keep the bag clean but holy smokes this morning’s been crazy ! I had just emptied like an hour before this too. Had a really busy day yesterday and wasn’t able to drink enough water so I got a bad headache last night and had been drinking a lot of water, especially since I got up this morning. Add in 2 cups of coffee and this was the result haha. Had a good breakfast and my headache’s finally clearing up thankfully so I’ll try to keep drinking more throughout the day and get a little more hydrated.
I just thought I’d share my little project I’ve played around with over the past few years. I always wanted to try to access some bulletin board systems on my old TRS-80. After watching a video years ago where someone dialed into a BBS on a TRS80 with a rotary phone and an acoustic modem I was so fascinated. Shortly after I found a nice model 4P on Ebay and played around with it a little before losing interest for several years.
After moving into my new place I decided to have a go at configuring a VOIP landline over my Starlink. I got an Obidata gateway and pulse tone converter and dove down the rabbit hole of trying to get it all working. I was eventually successful and immediately set up my two old rotary dial phones and even bought an old cassette tape answering machine. I was so stoked.
Shortly after I decided to get back into trying to get my old TRS80 online. After many attempts and a fair bit of research I was eventually successful but only while using my internal dial up modem. It was finicky at best but I was beyond stoked. Shortly after I scooped up a few old acoustic coupler modems from Ebay and began further attempts at accessing some BBS’s with Rotary dial phone. I found this to be considerably more finicky and unreliable than the internal modem which was pretty bad to begin with. Also being a 90s kid, this is all a bit before my time so I’m sure I still have much to learn but nevertheless I was able to get it to work on few occasions and was sure get some photos and videos of it all. I thought y’ll might find this to be pretty neat. I know I did!
This is the second time I’ve seen this happen at work. Any idea what exactly is going on here? These monitors have been in service non stop for the last 20 years