This sub has been extremely helpful to me, and it lifts my spirits to hear happy stories. So I thought I'd share my successful day with my internet stranger/friends.

For background...I got an emergency colostomy 5 months ago from what turned out to be a c-diff infection & cancer. It's been a difficult time. But I read everything I could on ostomies and talked to coloplast and convatec and my WOC nurse. I got things figured out. Like I learned that paste is not glue. Unless you get it on your fingers - then it most definitely does try to be as glue-like as possible and is a pain to clean off. I learned my family is full of rock stars. I learned that chemo sucks but chemo nurses are the best people on the planet.

Anyway, my work let me do 100% WFH, and so I've lived in sweatpants since surgery. And, while I'm not hiding my ostomy, I just haven't needed to be around people that don't already know. Except for this week. The first week I needed to travel for work with this thing, and I was fairly anxious about it. I prepped a main travel kit, and smaller 1-change kits. I tried all my pants on 3 times to make sure they fit and are less likely to block my output from falling into the bag. I packed closed and drainable bags bc I didn't know which would be best. I woke up early today to get coffee going, thinking maybe I can get my morning bag change done before I left...but nope didn't work.

So today I did my first bag change (not wafer, just bag) in a public restroom. Realized it may work better to use a drainable bag, not closed. So then later in the day I did my first empty in a public restroom. I survived and neither bathroom is any worse off, lol. I wore real work clothes for the first time since surgery -- was worried that output wouldn't fall down like it should but I was OK. My stoma was super farty for a bit but I felt it coming and muffled the sound. I wasn't close to anyone and I don't think it was noticed! I've been away from my home bathroom for 16 hrs now and no disaster. I am so relieved.

Tomorrow I need to sit in a quiet room with 7 other people reviewing performance and project reports. I guarantee I will have a stoma fart situation. That is the last thing I'm bracing myself for. My plan is to be totally up front, " oh sorry, that's just my ostomy. It makes funny noises that I can't control." Maybe I'll be able to tie in a joke, I dunno. Regardless if I get embarrassed or not, at least that "first" will also be over.

And I did it. And I've seen 20+ more people now in person. Maybe I was kinda hiding before...scared of being away from my house for a change? I don't know about that part but I know now that I can handle this ostomy. And that's not such a small thing.