New to UOAA.. 38 mother of twins

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rebeccaannmarie
Posts: 5
Joined: 2016-01-31 13:01:38

New to UOAA.. 38 mother of twins

Post by rebeccaannmarie »

Hello everyone

I am kind of older for this discussion board, but as a 38 year old diagnosed with rectal cancer, and a mother of 6 year old twins, I still feel that I am on the young side. Unfortunately the tumor was too large, and I have gotten two opinions from colorectal surgeons, both agreeing that I will need a permanent colostomy. I work as a preschool assistant teacher, with 4 and 5 year olds, but will need to take a leave as I recover from the surgery. I just started the process of explaining the ostemy to my two almost 7 year old children. It's hard to explain an ostemy in words that kids can understand. I feel that having kids is going to force me to cope with this quicker because I don't want them to feel that anything is wrong with mom, its just that she will need to use the bathroom in a different way. I'm looking forward to the possibility of irrigation, and I didn't even know that was possible until looking at this site. There is so much to learn, and I hope to be able to encourage others as well as receive encourgment. It's incredible that I'm finding out that many people younger than me live and deal with this, and I'm so inspired by you! My surgery will likely be in a few weeks. I haven't spoken to the ostemy nurse yet. Are there any things that I should consider for my first pouching system? Thanks for any input Becky
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