Back in May, I thought of all these grand plans to celebrate 5 years with my permanent ostomy. This past weekend, while out on an excursion with plenty of time in my own head to think, I realized that I had completely missed my 5 year anniversary. I don’t even remember what I was doing on June 13th. I guess I was too busy living my life. And I’m okay with that.

I think that it’s important to remember our life challenges that make us who we are. But I also think it’s important to just live. Before heading out on my biking/hiking overnight to the Mint Hut this past weekend, I developed an abdominal blockage that didn’t appear to have a cause, and not much came out when I irrigated. One of my friends asked if it was dangerous to go out into the backcountry with a blockage. My response was, “No, I can handle it.” And because of 5 years with an ostomy and 11 years with Crohn’s disease, I am confident that I have the experience and understanding of my body to assess risk and know how to mitigate ostomy issues. And when it came down to it, the blockage passed, and all I thought about was how much fun I was having struggling to ride my bike up and down the trail.

I will note that the one time I did think about my ostomy on this trip was when I went to use the outhouse with a pee guard on it. I’ll just say that it’s really hard to empty an ostomy into an outhouse that way. But with some creative thinking and acrobatic maneuvers I was able to poop pretty much like everyone else.

I may not have specifically celebrated 5 years with my ostomy, but I think that the real celebration is going out and living a life of adventure every day….

(Above: Attempting to adventure in Boston before my ostomy surgery. Below: Living my life after ostomy surgery)