MARY GLAD TO GET OPERATION AFTER YEARS OF SICKNESS
MARY McLoughlin was a young mother of five small children in her early forties when she was told she’d have to have a stoma attached.
Twenty five years of ulcerative Colitis on her bowel had taken its toll and it just stopped working.
They removed her large intestine completely, took out a little piece of her small intestine and attached a bag to it which she will have to wear for the rest of her life.
“I developed ulcerative colitis when I was 18, usually stress related but also hereditary as two of my sons suffer from it also.
“Eventually it got to the stage where my bowel was so bad I was referred to a surgeon in Dublin.
“It was very daunting at the start but you’re so sick you really don’t care.
“It is hard to cope with the bag at the start. It takes a little bit of getting used to but for me, with the condition I had, it gave my life back to me.
“It wouldn’t be the same for everybody because some people have cancer and it’s a quick thing and it happens when they haven’t been sick for long but I had so much sickness I was relieved to get it,” she said.
Mary’s bag is flesh coloured, smooth and completely unno- ticeable under her clothes.
“It just sits down on top - they’re so modern now they’re fantastic. You get the underwear and all to suit with a pocket on the inside for the bag. You get more feminine underwear for women also. It’s all important for your self- image,” she said.
Does she get enough nutrients?
“At the moment I’m taking Revive which is brilliant. It’s soluble so it goes into your blood stream, I find it very good,” she said.
“For somebody facing the surgery, you’re worried about your husband, will anyone want to be near you, will there be a smell off you, all those things go through your mind.
“It’d be so lovely for someone facing into that to be able to come and talk to us. It’s every bit as good to come before you have the stoma. One of the original founders and first Chairperson was the late Albert Bree who recently passed away. “There was a big gap in last night’s meeting,” she said.
“We have so much fun together. There’s a great security once you come inside that door because everybody in the group is in the same boat. Anyone who has a bag I’d encourage them to come. They may not need the support themselves, but they could be support to someone else,” she said.