The Anniversary That's Ok to Forget - Uncover Ostomy
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30 Jan The Anniversary That’s Ok to Forget

Posted at 16:40h in What's new by

I am in the dog house.

You know, that place you metaphorically get sent when you forget an anniversary?

I’m in there right. now.

It’s been a deep and meaningful, sometimes tumultuous, but never bad or sad, relationship of 15 years, yet today… 

I forgot the anniversary. 

Don’t worry, I didn’t forget my wedding anniversary (c’mon guys, I’m not old enough to have been married for 15 years!) and no, I didn’t forget the anniversary of my birth (for whoever calls it that…?)

I forgot my ostomy anniversary. 

It wasn’t until my mom, who never forgets anything important, texted me to remind me that today, is in fact, my 15th ostomy anniversary. 

After feeling shocked and, honestly sad, that I had forgotten such an important day, I took a step back and really thought about why I felt that way.

15 years ago today, I was a small, (ok, large cause, steriods!) kid, lying in a hospital bed, barely able to open my eyes, in excruciating pain, isolated from anyone my age, and left to think almost too much about the life I was living. The horrible life I was living. The life I wish I wasn’t living. 

15 years ago, on this day, I was on the brink of literal death until I was wheeled into the operating room at Sick Kids Hospital and had my entire colon removed along with some of my small intestine, leaving me with the ileostomy that has changed my life forever.

Now, 15 years later, I’ve been so extremely busy running a growing digital marketing agency, auditioning for, and being in commercials, and trying to make sure my husband of 1.5 years is fed, bathed, and happy, that I have barely any time to think. It’s no surprise that I forgot.

But, wait… Isn’t that a good thing?

I’m so busy building a life for myself, growing my career, taking care of those who I love, and living like an average person, that the ostomy is the furthest thing from my mind.

I don’t wake up thinking about how my ostomy will affect my day and I don’t go to sleep worrying that my ostomy is going keep me up at night (ok, well, normally I don’t… cause you know, every so often…!)

I live my life as a normal (and maybe slightly over extended) 28 year-old would, and that is the goddamn point of having surgery in the first place, amiright?

So here’s to the first 15 years of having an ostomy.

Here’s to the next 15 years, which I’ll probably forget about, again.

And here’s to celebrating the anniversaries that matter – birthdays, relationships, marriages, milestones, and whatever else needs to be remembered because we can. We can because of our ostomies.

Here’s to living the life that the ostomy has made possible. 

cheers

Jessica Grossman
info@uncoverostomy.org
1Comment
  • Julie Roszell
    Posted at 18:58h, 09 February Reply

    Hi my daughter is 19 with colitis. She’s at University hospital in London & is now having to make some tuff decisions about surgeries. Would be nice to talk to someone who’s been through it. Thanks.

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