Contact Sports with an Ostomy

I never thought that the competitive and crazy game of basketball would mean so much to me.  I know the sound of shoes gripping a freshly waxed wooden floor like the back of my hand.  My life has revolved around basketball since I was young. That is because I am from the midwest and basketball has been apart of my life since I was born.  We are given balls to play with as kids and baby basketball hoops as soon as we can walk.  It is a part of life to learn the game of basketball and to try to make it professionally.  Now I am not a professional but I thought my entire chances at life ended when I found out about my scheduled ostomy.  The thought of losing my favorite sport and activity in the world kinda broke me when I heard the news.  The life-saving surgery didn't matter to me, only the thoughts of what I would lose came to mind.  But I want to tell you there is hope and that your dreams won't be crushed by having a stoma.  No, I am not a professional basketball player, because I am not that good. And even though I have a stoma, I still like to play. 

We all get irrational and yet sometimes relevant fears of surgery are not something to brush off. It can be terrifying for some.   I never take someone's fears and laugh at them.  I understand them because I have been afraid of losing my favorite parts of life too.  The idea of having an ostomy bag to carry around for life made me so angry when I was younger that I hated life.  That is pretty normal because looks and perception are reality.  No amount of, "its OK" will make you feel better.  But being a bit older and experiencing a whole lot more of life and I can firmly say that my life didn't change when I got my stoma. But my stoma does not hold me back and I am an active dude.

There are some things that are key and that is getting ostomy gear that works for you and your body.  I have found that having some good ostomy gear is really important.  I am a big fan of testing things out and testing them hard before putting them on the court.  So I started my searching journey by asking my ostomy nurse and doctors all I could.  I learned as much as they did on the topic and they suggest I talk to pharmacists too. 

Pharmacists can be a huge help when learning about your new stoma.  I went back a few years later and thanked my first stoma pharmacist for being so kind to me and patient.  It was really a cool moment and he gave me hope even though I didn't know it at the time or appreciate it.  So that was a great starting point.  I then ended up talking with big companies and learning what options and cool gear were out there. What type of ostomy bags were the size and style I needed.  They gave me samples of elastic belts and bags with loops to keep everything nice and close to me.  With this help I got back to playing just like normal. A stoma guard helps too!