Seriously, They Don't 'Effing Matter. - Uncover Ostomy
1333
post-template-default,single,single-post,postid-1333,single-format-standard,ajax_fade,page_not_loaded,,qode-title-hidden,qode-child-theme-ver-1.0.0,qode-theme-ver-10.0,wpb-js-composer js-comp-ver-4.12,vc_responsive

Seriously, They Don’t ‘Effing Matter.

Earlier this afternoon I was walking along Bay St., here in Toronto, after speaking to a group about Uncover Ostomy. I was wearing my “This is where my ostomy is” tshirt without a jacket, since it was a nice 18 degrees Celsius outside. As I walked past a small group of picketers, I got called over:

“Hey! What does your shirt say?” 

Obviously, I stopped to explain.

Two members of the group seemed quite interested in what I had to say, while another joined in mid-way through my explanation. This guy asked me if I been on TV because he had remembered seeing me. (Yes, I had been and you can click if you haven’t seen it yet). After I finished my explanation, I walked cheerily away, happy to know I had spread some more ostomy awareness.

Lo and behold, I received a message from the UO contact form a few hours later reading:

I spent 5 minutes explaining to this guy and a group of his comrades that I shit in a bag (and showed it to them), yet he still managed to check out my website and fill out the contact form just to hit on me.

(Don’t worry, I responded with a gracious reply, thanking him for checking out the website.)

I often get asked if I’ve ever had a problem dating with an ostomy. Have I been turned down because of it? Have I been broken up with because of it? Have I had a hard time finding a guy at all because of it? The honest answer is no.

Well… the real honest answer is that it took me 5 years after ostomy surgery to actually be able to date since beforehand, I weighed much more than I do now (thanks to steroids) and was extremely awkward and weird (thanks to being isolated in the hospital without social interaction for 2 years.)

But after 5 years of growing into my body and learning how to socialize, the ostomy never, ever, ever, got in the way of my dating life. Since those years, I’ve been asked out multiple times, dated around, and actually been in relationships with a solid number of guys. Having an ostomy had never once gotten in the way of forming relationships at all. In fact, I used to hope that it would be a filtering device to keep the jerks at bay… but apparently not.

Anyhow, I have had such luck in the dating scene with an ostomy that I began to wonder why. Over the years, I’ve just kind of figured it’s been because I’ve always been so positive about it. I still wondered, though, how no guy has ever cared about my bag.

So I decided to do an experiment.

A lovely girlfriend of mine, new to the Toronto dating scene, decided to sign up for the free online dating site, OKCupid. She showed me how it worked and how she was getting some dates here and there simply from having her profile online.

I’ve always thought online dating was silly, but I thought this was the perfect opportunity to test how my ostomy would be received online. So, I signed up using my real name as my username, (which is apparently frowned upon but I clearly didn’t care…), filled out my profile in a quick haste, and threw up some pictures.

I don’t think I could have tried less.

And I did it on purpose.

When asked why I was on the site, I answered that I was there “for the laughs.” When asked what the first thing people notice about me was, I said “I don’t know, ask them.” I also specified that guys should only message me if they had a degree and a professional career (lol) and when I was asked what the most private thing I was willing to admit was, I said “Everything. Nothing is private. Just Google me.”

I basically put up a wall saying “hello, I’m a bitch” but used my pictures to intice them to Google me to come across the ostomy.

And they did.

In between the ridiculous messages from guys trying to be funny (like this guy)…

…or antagonistic to win over my attention, (like this guy)…

…or just trying to spark up a conversation (like this guy)…

…I would get a ton of messages from guys saying that they had Googled me and thought that was I was doing was great!

Some said that they thought was I was doing was awesome, and then would ask for my number. Some would ask me more details about how I got my ostomy, and then ask for my number. Others simply sent a messages saying they had learned something new, hoping to spark up some conversation. I even had one guy remember me from an article in the Western Gazette some 2 years ago!

While I got messages from guys who had found out the ostomy and still wanted to explore something with me, there were a few guys who didn’t want to actually date me. However, it apparently was not for the bag, but for “irreconcilable differences,” (like this guy)

Despite having an extremely off-putting profile, guys still Googled me, and still asked me out.

Bag and all.

Now, I wouldn’t feel comfortable with my Masters degree if I didn’t point out the flaws in my study, which all academics must do. Unfortunately, there is one giant flaw.

What about the guys who Googled me and decided not to message me because they discovered the ostomy?

I wasn’t able to track how many guys viewed my profile, looked me up, and decided against contacting me because they had discovered my bag. Because of that, I was unable to calculate my conversation rate.

But you know what?

Who cares?

All those guys that didn’t message me on OKCupid are the same group of guys who I would never think twice to talk to in person.

And clearly, with proof from my experiment, there are enough guys out there who literally do not give a crap about the ostomy.

(badumbum)

I have since shut down my experiment because I am now in a new relationship with a wonderful guy. A guy who never thought twice about my bag, which he knew about before we even became a couple.

When I asked him why he was so accepting of it (obviously, because I had to know) he said it was not the attitude I have towards it, but the fact that I am confident in myself as a whole. He compared it to the same situation of women who are self-conscious about their weight. He said, if a woman is going to complain and feel badly about herself because of how much she weighs, a guy isn’t going to want to date her. But if the same woman embraces her weight and is comfortable with who she is, her body size doesn’t matter at all.

You hear that? An ostomy is just like anything else you might be self-conscious about; weight, height, hair colour, shoe size, breast or manboob size, anything.

An ostomy is just another thing on that list.

Another thing that you can choose to complain about, another thing to feel bad about, and another thing to get in the way of finding yourself a great boy or girl.

So, friends, the moral of this story is that we should all be comfortable in ourselves no matter what we think is wrong with us.

Because in the end, it doesn’t ‘effing matter.

Jessica Grossman
info@uncoverostomy.org
39 Comments
  • Sally
    Posted at 00:06h, 09 May Reply

    Well to be fair, you are extremely attractive. That might have something to do with the huge number of guys who wanted to date you. But good experiment.

    • Jess
      Posted at 17:50h, 09 May Reply

      Well, thank you, Sally.
      I do think that it may have had an impact on convincing them to Google me, but that was the point!

  • Megan
    Posted at 00:11h, 09 May Reply

    Jess, you are gorgeous. some people with the bag are not as lucky as you in the looks department.

    • Jess
      Posted at 17:51h, 09 May Reply

      Megan, thank you!
      But I do believe that if I spoke badly and complained about my ostomy all the time that it would definitely negatively affect my dating life.

  • Chase
    Posted at 00:18h, 09 May Reply

    Jess…

    Well lucky you about the dating situation. I have not been as successful. I mean a few people have been okay with my colostomy but I have had other people say they were not interested in dating someone that had one of those. I am usually very up front right away and tell women that I’m trying to date. Maybe Toronto people are different or maybe men are more open to it than women are, I don’t know. But just wanted to let you know not everyone has the same situation…. And I’m not that bad of a looking guy, not a model like you but okay….

    • Jess
      Posted at 17:52h, 09 May Reply

      Chase,

      I am glad that you are upfront about what you have. Are you confident in it’s life saving function, as well? Have you explained that without it you may not be alive? Are you proud of it? Just because you’re upfront about it, doesn’t mean your portraying a positive attitude about it!

      If you are, well then you have saved yourself a lot of time by weeding the women who are not good enough to be with you!

      • Chase
        Posted at 01:04h, 12 May Reply

        Hey Jess,

        Yeah I’m good with it. I mean I know it will never be reversed. I didn’t have Crohn’s like probably many that you talk to. I was in a bad accident that broke my pelvis which severed the colon and muscles in my body. I mean it saved my life so I’m thrilled about that but the colostomy I’m fine with. I’m glad I weeded those few horrible girls out of my life really early but it still isn’t easy to hear that you are not wanted because of something you can’t change. Oh well I’m glad you are here being an example for everyone, but you are hotter than most people out there so I understand why your situation is different. I mean I would definitely be asking you out much like everyone else out there. Well thanks for getting back. Best wishes, God Bless.

        • Jess
          Posted at 18:06h, 13 May Reply

          It hurts when people tell you they can’t date you because you’re too short, too tall, too fat, too small…

          There are so many things people can’t change that others uses as excuses for reasons why not to date them. This is just another one 😉

  • catherine
    Posted at 00:33h, 09 May Reply

    I hate my bag….it,has totally wrecked me….i would do anything to be rid of it…no matter how hard I try..i just cant get my head around it all. I try to stay cheerful but inside it eats away at me…..how can I get over

    • Samantha
      Posted at 05:56h, 09 May Reply

      Oh Catherine, you are not alone with that ! I am not happy with mine and have spent many days in tears hating it and what the illness has done to my body. If you would like maybe we could talk and share how it makes us both feel, I am feeling a bit more positive about it now as it is here forever I will have to just get on with it. i joined a small group of young ladies with Ostomy bags in my area but found they didn’t understand at all as they all seemed so positive about theirs ! Happy to talk with you, we can help each other through it. I am on FB Samantha Gurling look me up xx

    • Jess
      Posted at 17:54h, 09 May Reply

      Hey Catherine,

      I am so sorry to hear that.

      I hope that you will read some more of my blog posts and participate in the Facebook page (http://facebook.com/uncoverostomy) and talk to those, like me, who are happy with their bags. It may help!

      If you’re looking to get over it, all I can say is that you need to start /telling yourself/ that you are happy with it. The more you reaffirm the fact that the surgery saved your life (or at least gave you a life back that you were missing because of disease) the more you will begin to believe it!

      Hope those tips help!

  • Bill O'Donnell
    Posted at 00:35h, 09 May Reply

    Any man in his right mind would “hit on you” – you are VERY pretty. As you know ostomies are very hard on the old body image, and if someone is maybe only marginally attractive in our shallow beauty oriented society, they might not have your luck.

    HOPEFULLY, by the time a normal dating relationship developed to the “look at my naked tummy” stage, it should be based on real values that should transcend the superficial. I doubt an ostomy would ever stand in the way of love or real romance, but if it stops a cheap hook-up, then you are probably better off for it. (Does that make any sense???)

    Bill

    PS – I really admire your bravery and wish I was 1/10th as brave!

    • Jess
      Posted at 17:55h, 09 May Reply

      Thank you very much, Bill!

      As I mentioned in the article, however, I haven’t always looked this way. It has negatively impacted my self-image, but over the years I’ve worked to get over it.

      And yes, what you said makes perfect sense!

      Thank you!

  • Heather
    Posted at 01:07h, 09 May Reply

    I completely agree Jess. I have never had an issue dating. I have even had my bag leak on a boyfriend… embarrassing! And he is still around after 5 years.

    I’ve had my ostomy since grade 8 (now in my late 20’s) and can say honestly that I am more conscious of my height than I am about my bag.

    Thank you so much for sharing!

    • Jess
      Posted at 17:55h, 09 May Reply

      Sounds like you have a great guy!

  • Tamara
    Posted at 01:19h, 09 May Reply

    This gave me lols. ESPECIALLY the half Asian comment.

    • Jess
      Posted at 17:55h, 09 May Reply

      WHATEVER, T.

  • Kristen
    Posted at 01:40h, 09 May Reply

    I always wondered if maybe I was just lucky to have found my (amazing) boyfriend before I had an ostomy. We had already been together for a few years, he loved me, and he was just glad that I wasn’t curled up in a ball, crying in pain anymore… that I was regaining weight, and getting healthier.

    I remember in the hospital, for some reason I just didn’t want to look at my ostomy. I didn’t want to know what I looked like with it. I’m a nurse. I kept telling myself to get over it, but for some reason I just couldn’t get myself to look. Crazy, right? When the WOC nurse came to teach me ostomy care, and I started tearing up, my boyfriend… who is the most squeamish, anti-ick guy I know stepped up and said “Teach me first.” He learned it all. He completely amazed me, and seeing how at ease he was with the whole thing, and how it didn’t change how much he cared about me one bit, it gave me the confidence to snap back to reality, LOOK at my ostomy, and embrace it. 🙂

    • Katy
      Posted at 03:31h, 09 May Reply

      That was amazingly sweet and supportive of your boyfriend. I had a hard time looking at first too. It is sort of weird, and it does take adjustment. But even though I don’t have my Ostomy any more (at least for now) it really changed my perspective on physical things and confidence. Anyway…. Just wanted to say your story was encouraging 🙂

  • Beth
    Posted at 02:32h, 09 May Reply

    I think if anyone would say they have a problem with an ostomy they probably just aren’t into you and are using that as the excuse. I didn’t have my ostomy when I met my girlfriend, but I had the scars and she knew the whole deal about a month into dating me. She knew there was always a chance that I would have an ostomy again and was there with me when that finally happened. She has been wonderful about it and has learned to change the appliance just in case I should ever find myself in a situation where I am unable to. My health still isn’t 100%, but she has been there with me through it all. Most days I am more worried that my bad mood will drive her away as I try to get back to my healthy self. With anything you must love yourself before you can hope to find someone to love you, and that person must also love the you that you love.

    • Jess
      Posted at 17:56h, 09 May Reply

      So true, Beth!

  • Samantha
    Posted at 05:51h, 09 May Reply

    I met my fiance just before I was diagnosed with UC, the ostomy came along 2 years later, he still loves me, fancies me and plans on spending the rest of his life with me. I was pleasantly suprised how much the illness and now a bag does not worry him in the least, actually if anything it is me who has trouble accepting it still !

    • Jess
      Posted at 17:56h, 09 May Reply

      That’s awesome that you have such a great guy!

      I hope UO helps you accept it a bit more!

  • Andreja
    Posted at 13:23h, 09 May Reply

    I always had a lot of admirers despite my Crohn’s, although I didn’t have ostomy. When I first met my husband I had the worse flare up in my life. And I told him about Crohn’s on a second date. He was really positive about everything. About two years ago I had urgent colostomy surgery. Six months after surgery he asked me to marry him. On May 26th we’ll celebrate our 1st anniversary.

    • Jess
      Posted at 17:56h, 09 May Reply

      Adorable!

  • John
    Posted at 03:51h, 11 May Reply

    As previous responders have noted, it doesn’t hurt that you are (highly) attractive. Accepting the bag has a LOT to do with it too…if you are comfortable with it, it helps a lot. Being in good shape has a lot to do with it as well…

    Me? I have a hernia around my stoma so it protrudes more than a bit…that doesn’t help things in my case. Of course, I also have a face made for radio and am about 10 pounds of grouchy in a 5 pound sack.

    Having said that…confidence is the first key….the second key is realizing that some people are just assholes. And not the good kind that you keep on your side and do nice things like save your life…the bad kind that say horrible, hurtful things and cause bad feelings….or even worse, try to say NICE things, and fail utterly by failing to live up to it.

    I have a decent amount of confidence in my pouch (almost no leaks since I’ve had it and it causes me almost no trouble. I have enough problems…tsuris like that, I don’t need.), but the rest of me not so much.

    And that’s what it boils down to: being happy in your skin (and plastic). Knowing that you probably don’t have a chance with all the people you’re interested in? Well, that was going to happen anyhow- and not always because of the bag

    Find someone who accepts you. Find someone who interests you. Find someone who has interests you don’t- you never know what might be cool that you don’t do now. Find someone who gives you that…Feeling. The one that tells you this person is someone you can stand who can stand you.

    At least that’s what I do.

    • Krystal
      Posted at 21:02h, 12 May Reply

      Very well said!

  • Jessica
    Posted at 11:31h, 20 February Reply

    I am not as positive about my ostomy as you are but I have been putting my social life and dating at bay since my surgery 3 1/2 years ago and I have to move forward. This was really inspiring to me. I’m hoping to find a support group that isn’t all older individuals that I can join in my area but don’t know how realistic that is, so I am happy and thankful for your site as it is aimed more at my age group. I never thought I would consider a online forum for support but I think you may be stuck with me now. Lol! Thank you!

  • Stacy Biesinger
    Posted at 12:20h, 09 March Reply

    Hi Jess.

    I have had an ileodtomy for 12 years now, most in which I was married. I am now divorced and have started dating. I never mention the fact that I have an ostomy until I am comfortable with a man. Some seem curious, some concerned that they might hurt me (which is cute and funny), and some find ways to politely say that we are not compatible. I just say ok and move on; however, it does secretly tear me up inside when I know we had a great connection until I mention my ostomy. I consider myself beautiful inside and out. I’m keeping the faith that someday a wonderful man will agree. ☺

  • Chris h
    Posted at 08:43h, 15 June Reply

    It’s awesome you’ve seen such success, but you’re a girl and guys care alot less than girls do. That’s a big deciding factor, I mean girls scream and run away from bugs, just to put a little perspective on it :/…plus I saw some comments that said your pretty so I’m sure that just agitates successful, which is prosperous and great, I’m just saying though… I just had my intestine removed a month ago..was 200 lbs with 9% body fat prior to getting sick, blond hair blue eyes and biceps I had it all, lost it all too…well expect for the eyes and hair haha

  • Gurjit
    Posted at 16:29h, 17 July Reply

    And for the rest of us that aren’t googleable? I feel like this would have been a more realistic experiment if you’d just put it out there in your profile and not depended on your searchability. I didn’t really find this helpful. I appreciate what you’re trying to get across about confidence but your method was not at all relateable or realistic. Thanks for raising Ostomy awareness though. Cheers.

  • p
    Posted at 23:59h, 18 October Reply

    haha well from experience women are way less open to the idea of men having an ostomy. I’ve met a number of women with an ostomy or colostomy and they have way better rates of men not caring about what they have. I’ve got no issues with getting dates, second dates or getting the your place or mine hint… but when the subject of ostomy comes up but a very high percentage of women run for the hills like I’ve said I’m a bubonic plague carrier. But it is what it is, dust off the old pants, hop back in the old saddle and sooner or later you’ll find open minded woman in a sea of shallow ones!

  • Jeffrey
    Posted at 10:09h, 03 January Reply

    This really only applies to women. Most men don’t care about the season aren’t disgusted by it where as nearly all elements are. Women are also thousands of times more selective when it comes to a man whereas men will get together with just about any woman as long as she has a decent body and her face isn’t horrible.

    As a mid thirties male with a colostomy bag I have realistically no hope of having even a decent fringe love life let alone a normal or good one.

    • Jeffrey
      Posted at 10:12h, 03 January Reply

      I was using voice to text. Replace the word seasons with feces and element’s with women.

    • Jessica Grossman
      Posted at 12:03h, 13 January Reply

      Hi Jeffrey,

      I’m very sad that you feel this way, especially knowing that your perception is not true. I know many men with ostomies who have gone on to live very happy lives with a wife and family. I find it is really just about the attitude presented towards it that makes the difference. Hopefully, with a positive attitude, you can find this, as well.

  • Elizabeth De Luca
    Posted at 13:29h, 12 February Reply

    GOOD MORNING YOUNG PEOPLE!!!!! I was 46 when I was diagnosed with Familial ademataous POLYPOSIS, Gardners SYNDROME, . I had the reversal after 30 days in the hospital. Going into surgery 5 ft. 95 pounds, married with two kids then 20 and 16, my husband 48 and I was his sole caregiver. Next up my son 20 in 2005 a little less than a year from mine, my daughter 17 in 2006. We all have this genetic none recessive gene. How would I know I had it my mother didn’t introduce me to her guy she stated none of it is my business. I lived an awful childhood. I have a great sense of humor but I suffer from depression, who wouldn’t? My husband who as of 2009 lives in a nursing home. Chemo and all the hospitalization I had was unsafe for him to be alone. He relied on me for everything from the day we married, I didn’t mind for better or worse, right? When I came home before the reversal this sweet man said to me, “if I knew you were going to be like this I would have left you, but I’m sick and need you to take care of me.” Too many years together and ill with blockages I saved him after I came home from work, just 2.5 years later. Furniture skating and Multiple Sclerosis he fell down the basement stairs and had a stroke and heart attack. Two more years, two kids still needing financial and medical support. I went back to work and my daughter and I took shifts with physical therapy for him. Of course, where does the illeostomy come in as I did and so did my kids have the reversal? I waited two more years and when I had to face the fact my husband left me a long time ago. Dementia, cognitive and reasoning skills ,physical ailments…I could no longer straight catheter him. I faced facts he needed an environment that would give him social interaction with guys like himself and even a woman or two. So, after 23 years of in home care giving, working, and basically raising three kids he had to be placed in a nursing home as he became paranoid and violent. He is the nicest sweetest man I have ever met. This was no longer the case. Fast forward the kids married with their reversals, I was in and out of the hospital. Truth is the hospital wasnt sure why I was as sick as I was. Off across the country I went to THE BEST HOSPITAL RATED NUMBER 1. MY daughter my only relative who gave a dam accompanied me. SO 57 and my 27 year old daughter found out why it wasn’t working. In a simple procedure to assist the problem they perforated my bowel, sepsis set in and my daughter called the estranged family including her brother now living out of state with his wife. I don’t recall much other than her face looked like a teary eyed moon. I couldn’t speak nor could I comfort her. It changed our close relationship forever. She realized via her husband she was my one legged chair. I faced death unknowingly, woke up 7 days later with you got it……an illeostomy a.k.a. Van GOUGH. where ever I go he goes. Without a doubt 12 inches of small intestine left I suffered too much output. Next renal failure for thee last 6 months off and on. Pain was severe more sepsis because no doctor on Long Island could figure out my gall bladder grew onto the small intestine and was now leaking gastric fluid into my stomach. Back to the city hospital for cancer and poof the gallbladder wasn’t a picnic to remove or heal but here I am. I change my ileostomy bag myself and I heal quickly. SO, dating where does that come in. Oh yes, I found a fellow on a dating site not too far from home. He had a liver transplant and we got along just find as long and I know u guys will say ( oh no) but I’m fairly agile and a young in the 50’s state of mind. How was I to know this 63 year old guy was just a horny guy looking for an unsuspecting woman who hadn’t had sex but with one man ,her husband her whole life. He felt love is sex and went by my looks. I told him going in the road to living together he may see the worse. My daughter took care of the ugly and hard road after surgery. i had to heal, though I created a designer looking home I came to realize he could only focus on his health.Once I felt better he wanted me back, “all in OR nothing, he said.” All he has left is his manhood. He was already out intimate with a widow of five years his old neighbor . Obviously he doesn’t like to work for much. Im looking for companionship, interests in reading more than an instructional manual. I have difficulty thinking of the intimacy part of the equation but after a year of bad luck with health those feelings to come to mind. I told the guy I was with for three years he thinks and loves with his ____I think and feel with my heart. That is why Im the one he doesn’t want to let go. I’m now retired, ugh!!!! I get hydrated by Iv for now via a port. How sexy and intresting is that. I think I created the bag lady at one point I had four bags attached to me. Now just the ileostomy. Friends went away when my husband was diagnosed with M.S. years earlier, they thought they needed to yell for him to hear them. IGNORANCE. I had to let that go. I=The sum of my life became my 2 kids and husband. I wont see grandchildren my son won’t adopt and my daughter is willing but too busy with her Professorship. Besides, she has some issues on the health front to which she needs help. At least she has her husband. I had to move back into my home, with them. I was blissfully happy before the perfed bowel. Get this adults turn up their nose at the bag, I’ve been humiliated and friendless due to the bag issue. You must be healthy otherwise you could possibly attract a 80 year old. That is a big no for me, I want someone who can relate to my era. I’m not beautiful, I’m what they say is cute, tiny, adorable, funny (though I’m not going to be funny now). I’m serious, how the hell do I find a friend male or female just to talk, have a great time with, laugh a lot, watch a movie, normal stuff not just a between the sheets or table woman. A friend and socializing is what I need to rid me of the fear of the bag. I feel normal, I want to be treated normal. BTW what is an ileo diet consist of? Anyone of you young people hear what I’m saying? I’m older but I still feel young trapped in a stereotype of what young feels is old. Old advice is boring and quite the snoozer. I need a better and a younger perspective and I get along with old and young. The old are connected to grandchildren though and husbands. I visit my husband but he forgets what I say and I can only face it when my daughter is around. I LOOKED up clubs with women ….full. I looked up volunteering near me, zippo. I believe in GOD, raised Catholic. Took my children to every diverse church so they could make a choice. My daughter chose to believe in GOD as I raised her with that and altruism. I have difficulty with organized religions, as even they too have misappropriated funds to which, when I had no money I gave to the church first. They finally admitted 7 months later thee money was used for the shell of the church and not the family they professed it for. I do miss church but I won’t be duped one more time. THERE you go. Oh yes, I have a few wrinkles and carry my own bag and supplies. I can fit into carry on luggage and I turn into stand up comedian in the hospital/ caregiver to roommates. My roommates usually leave me a thank you card and it touches my soul. ok… I sound complicated but truly I’m fun and that’s without the use of drugs and or alcohol to which neither can apply to me. I am a Gatorade and water girl 8 liters a day. Young people have a network of friends as we age life throws curve balls, friends change I get that. doctors and nurses find me funny, charming, polite,sweet, well educated and understanding of her conditions, a pleasurable person to keep company with. SO JESS I wasn’t the pretty young girl growing up. I’m curvy, petite,thin,wear a bag of shit and don’t carry my childhood or marriage baggage with me. I’m a reader, a listener, observational nature and fall into caretaker so easily. i’m not a threat to anyone’s marriage. I look forward to all or any responses. Thanks for the time to read and let me ask for help, I don’t normally.

  • Brandon
    Posted at 12:54h, 27 March Reply

    Thanks for telling your story. I’ve had a temporary ostomy since last summer (4 more weeks!!), and you are spot on. The only thing that gets in the way of dating or socializing is my own distraction over the nuisance that an ostomy bag causes and my own self-consciousness about how my body isn’t as chiseled as it was prior to having the bag (I have issues with sweat eating through the glue, so I haven’t really been able to work out much).

    Nevertheless, my point is that a bag won’t be a barrier to dating. Literally, no one cares. And the occasional morbid curiosity some people have, I think, is fun. Yes, having a bag is inconvenient. It gets in the way. It can be disruptive to intimacy. But so what? It has never adversely affected dating, sex, or making friends.

    It’s all in our heads.

  • Anna Louise Crockett
    Posted at 20:05h, 13 November Reply

    I have now had 3 failed surgeries for anal vaginal fistulas due to Crohn’s . I think the dreaded bag is going to be my only option. I had one 25 years ago for 9 months and it traumatised me…. I’m sure they are much better now but I’m still horrified by it.
    I’m 48, confident , and single and have a deep paranoia that I’ll never meet a man easily if I go ahead and do it. Don’t get me wrong I have a lovely life, 15 year old boy but divorced…., I’ve struggled anyway for the last 8 years to meet someone long term so see this as another obstacle….. any thoughts ??? Xxx

    • Jessica Grossman
      Posted at 18:27h, 13 January Reply

      Hey Anna,

      No need to worry! It’s not a “dreaded bag,” but a lifesaving one! I had no issues dating and am now married to an awesome man for over 2 years. It’s the confidence that the guys see, so that’s all that you need. Good luck!

Post A Comment