In this episode, I had the pleasure of speaking with Jessica Miles, a registered nurse, photographer, and ostomy advocate who has learned to thrive with a chronic illness and an ostomy. Jessica shares her journey with a connective tissue disorder and multiple surgeries, leading to her having a colostomy. She talks about her experiences with doctors and surgeries, and how she has learned to maintain a positive attitude despite her health challenges.

wimming can be such a great exercise and you may or may not have done it prior to having your ostomy and you may be a little bit nervous about attempting it for your first time after having your ostomy surgery. I'll tell you before surgery personally, I lived in my bathing suit. I was always in a bikini. I started to feel after surgery, little more self-conscious about having my ostomy.  Can I swim with it? What happens if the bag breaks? What happens if things fill up? I'm not comfortable being in a bikini. You know what if it shows through my one-piece bathing suit there's so many questions about it. And it can be a little nerve racking trying to get through that.

You've had your ostomy since 2012. So that's like 10 years now?

Yes. anniversary, and I'm so excited. In September, we're gonna celebrate in some way.   I love it. I love it. And it's not that you want to celebrate it. So why do you want to celebrate it? Like what? Why is it such a beautiful thing?  Because it's a crazy amount of time. 10 years with an ileostomy because from the beginning, it was said that I would have it for two years. And back then it felt like that was forever. How am I going to do this? And now, like my years has literally flown by. And I mean, my bag, which I'm calling Guna. It's a Swedish name. It's his birthday. So, I of course I had to celebrate.

This week’s guest is Stefanie and we met on Instagram

·       Wait until you hear her accent!  She was doing some amazing things out there on social media and I knew we needed her on the show. 

·       She is a 22 year old college student with her ostomy.

·       Lives in Scotland 

• This week’s guest is Chium and we met on Instagram.

• She was out there with her Ostomy working out, doing all that fun stuff I love and I just needed to know her because she is such an inspiration out there!

• Today’s guest is Amy Hart

• In an Ileostomy due to colon cancer

• Mom to 2 little girls. 

• She has an amazing story, going through Colon cancer THROUGH covid! 

• This episode is about my journey for my new listeners. 

• I have shared a lot of other stories with others, but it is rare that I share my story often and my Ostomy journey. 

• What led me into having an Ostomy.

• What I have done over the years.

• Cancer and ending up in an Ostomy.

• My mindset and my growth.

• Have Ostomy because of Cancer

• Had cancer in 1995. Cervical Cancer.

  • Right after had her son.

  • I could not have any more children after that

  • Stage 3 

• Had a colostomy during some of those treatment periods. 

• Happened 27 years ago.

• Had to have the colostomy then, things were not as good then as they are now. 

• A solo episode this week! I have been on vacation for 2 weeks and it has felt absolutely amazing! 

• Gave me some time for me and it feels good. 

• A few things have happened to me over the last few weeks and I wanted to share that with you!

• No matter how long you have been in an Ostomy, body image is still a big thing. And regardless of the number of things you can do with your body and the acceptance that you have, there may be moments when you are reminded that you are living in a bag. 

• Ostomate sister, artist and today’s guest, Joy!

• Met her on Instagram and connected there!

• Best place to find this community! Just search #ostomy on there!

Dr. Joga Ivatury Podcast Interview Transcription For 2/2/2022

Intro  (0:00)

• This week's guest is Dr. Joga Ivatury.

• “Ask The Doctor”

• He is my Colorectal Surgeon who helped remove cancer from my pelvis and gave me my Ostomy. 

• Chief of Colorectal Surgery at Dell Medical School at University Of Texas Austin

• I am here today because of him! 

Ok I don’t know about you but I find jeans very uncomfortable. I don’t know why, well maybe its because I love living in my workout clothes lol. So what do you wear for jeans that are comfortable and stylish when we are in an ostomy?

For me it’s all about comfort. Hey, I am an 80’s girl so the tighter the jeans the better was the way to go. You know what I mean grabbing that pair of Jordache and then a coat hanger so you could zip them up while lying down. Come on I am not the only one here right? Anyways, now that I have my colostomy that is no longer an option and the rest of my lower half thanks me for it lol.

Here are my favorite go to brands!

Robin’s Ostomy Story - How It Began (1:15)

• Struggled at age 21 and was diagnosed with Ulcer Colitis.

• Food poisoning led to an exploratory surgery where they found Ulcer Colitis while in surgery.

• Struggled for years with different types of medications and bowel resections. And was just constantly sick. 

• In March 2014 a freak accident happened with our off-road ATV. It malfunctioned and pinned me between the ATV and the back of the garage. 

• After the accident, I had numerous bowel reconstruction surgeries, and the first area of my body they took care of after the accident and began my journey to an Ostomy. 

• The bag came 2 in a half hours later after struggling with different conditions. 

• Started my pageant journey after I got my Ostomy. 

AJ Barbosa Intro & Medical History (1:04)

AJ Barbosa is on today’s podcast to share his story.

Crohn's survivor & Dad.

Having Crohn’s led to getting an Ostomy

10 years old, going on 11 when he was diagnosed.

Guess what today is?????

It's Ivan my ostomies 6th Birthday!!!!!

Six years ago today my amazing Drs, Dr Leslie Demars and Dr Joga Ivatury removed a sarcoma tumor the size of a nerf football out of my pelvis and I woke up ALIVE and in a colostomy which I named (Ivan) after Dr Ivatury, for life.

It was the day before the surgery to removed the cancer and I was scared, the was 6 years ago today. The tumor had grown large and was growing fast. There had been the initial surgery to remove it 2 months prior which didn’t work yet left me with a hysterectomy. I had to heal for 8 weeks from that surgery before they were going to go in again.

It’s my first solo episode of the new year so I wanted to talk about nutrition and exercise.

At the beginning of the year, we always set these goals we want to achieve for the year, so today I want to chat a little about some tips that I have for you to help you stick to your goals and feel good!⠀⠀

Ashlyn is 1 year out from having her Ostomy and from her perspective, it has really been a year of acceptance for her.

After going in and out of remission with her UC over the years, it finally got to a point where it was truly a life or death situation. The last thing that had to be done to save her life as the medications and treatments stopped working was to get part of her colon removed and have an Ileostomy put in. 

Are you good with taking care of your skin? I know I haven’t been for most of my life and just last year I made a focus to be better at it. This year I will continue to do so. Skin is our largest organ, I never knew that until I got into the health world 11 years ago. To get ready for competitions we used to have to exfoliate our skin a few weeks before the competition so that our tan should go on smoothly. That was about all I ever did.

Heather's journey started as a young child with stomach issues and doctors always telling me nothing was wrong.  Fast forward years down the road and Heather was in constant pain with Ulcer Colitis, then faced a Crohn’s diagnosis.