This morning I fell down the stairs. I had just finished my breakfast and was going to take my dishes back to the kitchen. I carefully began my descent, slowly hobbling down… when suddenly the bunny socks I was wearing caused me to slip. I fell straight down and my bottom slammed into the stair below me. Then I began to bump down the following stairs after that.
I thought I’d just completely destroyed Peeves, my stoma, and ripped open my main incision. It hurt. And it hurt really bad. I started crying as I sat there, unable to get up and in shock. Worried that I might have done some real damage. I was also extremely frightened. I took a pain pill for the pain and went back to bed to “recover.”
I immediately called my in-home nurse and my surgeon. The nurse came out to see me and took a look at everything. She said everything was fine, but I did notice that the bar or “bridge” beneath my stoma had slipped underneath the wafer and kept sticking into my still tender belly (I’m only a week and a half out of surgery after all). I took a picture of it and texted it to my SUPER awesome ostomy nurse (whom, I found out, just happens to attend my church!!!). She assured me that it was ok and it really eased my mind about things.
Peeves, the stoma.
After several hours of being stabbed by the wretched bar, I resolved to change my appliance! I had never changed it without the help of a nurse before, so I was nervous. Luckily I was able to enlist the help of my husband. He was very much obliged! His favorite part was “crusting.” While we were at it, my surgeon called to check on me (I’d called to tell him about my fall). He assured me that I was ok and didn’t need to worry. He said to make sure I eat lots of protein, keep walking and DO NOT WEAR SOCKS on the stairs.
So we continued changing the wafer and bag. It took a little while, and we were just about ready to place the wafer when Peeves decided to act up and start spitting up heavily.
“NO!” I nearly shouted.
“Ugh!” My husband said a little disgusted.
All the awesome crusting he had done was suddenly ruined. We had to clean it up and start over. After about an hour we finally got it finished and took a photo to send to my ostomy nurse. She congratulated us on a job well done and then we “celebrated” by driving out to a nearby burger joint. It was nice to get out. I’d been cooped up in bedrooms for way too long and was starting to get cabin fever. We didn’t eat out. We brought the food back (’cause I still get exhausted easily) and watched one of his favorite movies, “Big Trouble in Little China.” I don’t get it, but he finds the movie absolutely hysterical. Anyway…
All in all it was a pretty good day… even if it started out very scary. I am blessed to have the amazing husband that I do who is patient, caring and sweet enough to help me change my appliance. I don’t know what I’d do without him.,
So there you have it… my staircase adventure. 🙂 The moral of the story? SOCKS AND STAIRCASES DO NOT MIX. Don’t do it. Until next time, you guys are in my prayers. I hope you have a great weekend!!!
