A little (long) update for you all...

So, I got discharged from hospital on the 10th of April. Very tired and still feeling a bit nauseous, but so happy to be away from the noise, disruption, and sterilisation of hospital life. . Mum took me back to her place for a few nights where she lovingly cooked me dinners, made me lunches, and against my want, have me bananas and yoghurt for breakfasts. (I don't like bananas 😂 but ate them graciously) . Over these few days, it became apparent that my mental health had taken quite a large hit. I was so exhausted and drained that my emotions were all over the place. I would start crying at the drop of a hat... Dropped my sock? Cried. Was too full to eat more than 3 mouthfuls of rissoto that mum had cooked? Cried. Felt a bit nauseous? Cried. It was near impossible to hold back the tears because my body and my brain were just so tired... And then the embarrassment and the shame of crying at nothing made me cry more. . I had no energy to do anything what so ever, but mum got me moving a little bit each day which definitely helped. I also got to cuddle with my dogs.. Which is always the best medicine for feeling under the weather. 

. After a couple of nights at mums, I came home! It was nice to be in my own familiar space. My partner had put fresh sheets on the bed and mum had sent me home with some food that I could hear up for dinner so I was set! 

. After a few more days of r&r, my brain fog had started to lift and I finally had some energy to reply to more than 1 message a day. 😂 I had also started re-introducing various foods back into my diet. I went out for sushi one night, and the next night, made a salad... It was sooo good to eat normal, tasty, solid food! . On Tuesday, I went and had a follow up appointment with the stoma therapist. I was greatly anticipating this as I had just run out of the base plate supplies that I had been given whilst I was in hospital. The nurses had placed an order for supplies the week before, but nothing had arrived. Thankfully, I got a call from Ostomy Tas who explained that they hadn't received my order from the mainland but had contacted Coloplast (the brand of bag I use), and asked them to send me my supplies directly. When I got to my stoma appointment, we found that my stoma site had a lot of raw red skin around it and it turns out my stoma had shrunk and so I was cutting the base plate too big. We re-measured my stoma and the nurse gave me some powder to put on the sore area. 

She also showed me how to place further orders for more supplies. . When I had woken up that day, I had noticed that I had broken out in a rash all over my tummy, back, and my arms.. By the end of the day, it had spread all over my body and was itchy beyond belief. I managed to get to get some calamine lotion and some antihistamines to try and help the itching. I think the rash was brought on as a reaction from the antibiotics I was on..

 Thankfully a few days on, and it's starting to subside. . Wednesday morning, I received my first delivery day! 3 boxes and a parcel arrived at my door. I got to set them up in my super duper Kmart drawers! 

. So in summary I guess.. I'm doing OK. I'm still very fatigued, but am slowly getting better each and every day!