As a college student with a colostomy procedure, I have had my fair share of bullying in my life. When I was young, I had a disease that rid my large intestine useless. Doctors had to remove almost all my large intestine. Only enough was left for the colostomy surgery. If part of it were not left, I would not be able to properly digest foods, thus needing more work. Growing up with an ostomy, I got bullied a lot, and that was tough. Eventually, I learned to stand up for myself and ignore the nasty people in this world. I know that there are others like me who have been in my position, and I hope you too can learn to ignore the naysayers and stand firm. If you do not have an ostomy procedure and you are reading this, I hope you can learn to be accepting of people different than you. 

Being a college student with an ostomy procedure, I have missed out on a lot in life and college experiences. Due to having an ostomy pouch, I can not play physical contact sports, or I will risk having my bag burst. I also can not go to many college parties. I can’t drink much alcohol. If I do, then I can have worse issues than a burst bag because I can not correctly digest the things I consume. I have a very specific list of foods and drinks I can have because of my ostomy. I have this because if I don’t stick to this list, I have horrible indigestion, and generally, the food comes out not so digested. 

Growing up, I had a dream of playing college football. I thought it was the best thing ever. Unfortunately, everything changed when I had my ostomy procedure. I tied to play flag football, but even still, there was some physical contact here and there. I had an accident once where I got hit right on my ostomy pouch. It had not been drained before the game, but this accident caused it to be. This changed my mind about even trying to play sports as that was an extremely embarrassing situation that I do not want to find myself in again. It sucks giving up on a dream you have been chasing, but sometimes your health is better than a dream. 

Due to being a college student with an ostomy, I have had my fair share of bullying experiences leading up to this moment. It was hard at first. I took everything the bullies would say very personally, and that would crush me. Eventually, I got fed up with them and told myself next one to say something; I will stand up for myself. Well, the very next day, I had a bully say something. I simply said, keep talking, and ill empty my bag in the trash, pointing at him. That shut him up real quick, and I keep that line up my sleeve to this day. 

Life has been kind of hard on me, but I have made a good group of friends that surround me and support me along with my family. It helps to know people like that are behind me and have my back. I know many people have had similar experiences as i, and I encourage you to stay strong and keep moving forward. Life will get better; just keep pushing forward. 

Being in the army has taught me a lot of valuable lessons that I have taken to heart. The most important is to ensure to live every day to its fullest and don’t take anything in life for granted. Being in the army, I saw many unpleasant things that I will not be discussing as I do not want you to get scared. What I will be sharing with you, however, is what lead up to me needing to get an ostomy procedure. 

If you don’t know what an ostomy procedure is, that is alright. I did not know either until I needed one. The most common and the one I had is called a colostomy. This procedure is when your large intestine is pulled to the front of your body to the abdomen wall, to be more specific. Then a tiny hole is created on the right side of your abdomen wall. This hole is called a stoma. Part of the large intestine is pulled through the stoma. After that, a bag is placed over the section to catch any waste leaving the body. This procedure needs to be done if you have had a severe injury or a disease to the large intestine or colon. I had an injury that required me to get this procedure.

One day on a mission, my unit was taking over a small town. We were trying to find any enemies in the building; we were not trying to uproot the people and make them leave. We split up into five groups of three to door to door, checking building bottom to top. One door we knocked on did not answer right away, not even after knocking and waiting for a few minutes. We decided to break the door down because we needed to check every house. I was the one to kick the door in. When my men were ready, I kicked the door in, and as soon as I did, boom. An explosion went off, knocking my guys and me back at least five feet. I landed on my back, but a piece of shrapnel was lodged in my gut. My men immediately called a medic over. He came rushing around and told me we needed to get back to the base asap before I lost more blood. 

We jumped in the humvee and sped towards the base, each bump possibly making things worse. Once we got back to base, we rushed into the medical tent, and I was seen by two doctors. They told me they had to put me under so they could operate. Before doing this, they told me everything it could be and what they would need to do. Getting an ostomy was on that list. When I woke up, they told me the internal damage was severe. Both my intestines and kidney had been sliced by the piece of shrapnel. Due to this, they had to do an ostomy, a colostomy, more importantly. They said it could be temporary, but it would be a few months before they would know for sure. As the months go past, I hope not to have this forever, but I have accepted that I may. 

I am glad to be alive today. As the months pass by, I keep wondering what the final verdict will be regarding my colostomy. I have accepted that it may end up being permanent, and that’s alright; it’ll be a permanent reminder. I am glad that the damage done was not any more severe than it was. Suppose that were the case, I’m not sure if I would still be here today. I am also very thankful and happy that I could trust my brothers to keep me alive. I am on medical leave right now and not sure if I will be going back. 

As a person with an ostomy, there is not a lot I can do. There are a lot of risks I run if I play any physical contact sports. This is because if I do and get hit, there is a chance my ostomy pouch can burst and release all the waste. I went to school and graduated with a business major. I went for a business major because I thought it would be the best for my situation. When I was in high school, I developed a disease that rid my large intestine almost useless. This means I can not have proper bowel movements. It was scary to hear that I would be needing a colostomy procedure. When my parents heard this, they were sad but supportive of me. They encouraged me to stay strong. 

When I was in high school, I had to get a colostomy procedure. I had a disease develop that rid my large intestine useless. My doctor told me that in order to combat this, they would need to do an end ostomy. This meant it would be permanent. A colostomy procedure is when part of the large intestine is cut, and part is brought to the abdominal wall. That part then needs to be pulled through a hole so waste can exit the body. The hole is called a stoma. It is a pink, red color and is puffy looking. Getting this procedure has helped me live a better life as I no longer have indigestion or lousy bowel movement. 

As I mentioned before, I went to college for a business degree. During my time there, I found the love of my life. Finding her helped me a lot. She was my rock and one of my biggest supporters. She constantly pushed me when I thought I could not keep going. I kept pushing through my school work; I knew she was right, and it would pay off in the end. Due to my situation, I felt that getting a business degree would be best for me because it is a deck job and can keep my stoma safe. After graduating, I got a job at a good company. I told them about my situation, and they were very understanding. They also gave me some perks and said I could work from home if I chose to. I usually do. 

I am glad that my job was accepting and bent some rules for me. I feel fortunate to be surrounded by such supportive people. Since they allow for me to work from home, I usually do. This also helps my wife as she can go to work and leave the kids with me. It can be challenging to focus on my work from time to time with screaming children going on around me. The good thing is that they usually respect when I’m working and do their best to keep it down. 

Having the ability to work from home has been an enormous blessing in my life. I don’t like to take many risks, especially now with my ostomy. I am very glad to have such supportive and accepting people in my life. Having an ostomy in high school, I never expected to be where I am at today. I enjoy my job; it’s also relatively easy so that is a plus.