175: Mike wears an ostomy pouch

What Was That Like - a storytelling podcast with amazing stories from real people

How would you handle it if you ended up having a medical condition that suddenly made you different from everyone else, in the most embarrassing way possible?

That’s what happened to Mike.

Today you’ll hear about when Mike got the news from his doctor – sorry, you won’t be able to poop the normal way any more. From now on, for the rest of your life, you’ll use a bag, actually called a pouch, and you’re gonna poop directly from your stomach into that.

And when Mike got that news, he was just a kid – not even a teenager yet.

So today, Mike’s gonna tell us what that was like, and how he handled it, and what it’s like today, as an adult with an ostomy. I asked Mike all the questions that normally you’d never be comfortable asking someone in this situation.

This conversation with Mike is so real. That’s what we do here – real life. You’ll hear it all, because Mike is open to talking about everything. And you know what else he is? He’s happy and he loves life. Because he wants people to know – if you get the diagnosis he got, it’s not the end of the world.

If you’d like to contact Mike, his email is [e-mail]

Full show notes and pictures for this episode are here:

https://WhatWasThatLike.com/175

Resources:

The r/ostomy subreddit – 8000 members - https://www.reddit.com/r/ostomy/

Meet an OstoMate – large ostomy community - https://www.meetanostomate.org/

Facebook groups:

The Real Ostomy Support Group – 23k members - https://www.facebook.com/groups/1160120857334266

Stoma and Ostomy Support Group – 14k members –

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1442544766001622

Colostomy and Stoma Support Group – 13k members –

https://www.facebook.com/groups/607387186088212

Graphics for this episode by Bob Bretz. Transcription was done by James Lai.

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