I have gone through many things, but my biggest challenge has been dealing with a bad stoma rash. I have been to stoma nurses and have tried many things to try to heal it, but nothing has worked. It will be okay for awhile, then it flares up again and it is very painful.

When this first happened to me, it was like a nightmare. To make matters worse, when the medics took me to the er, the gurney tilted and they dropped me on the ground. The first surgery left me with a huge wound. I was in the hospital for 17 days and about two weeks in rehab. The next year the doctor wanted to try another surgery to reverse to the normal way. It was a disaster! He said there was to much damaged tissue so after 8 hours of surgery it was all for nothing. This surgery was worse than the first one. You asked what was my most challenging adjustment. That was dealing with ostomy products. To try different things that will work for me. Trial and error. I had two hernia surgeries, but then more came. I have two small ones and one large one about the size of a grapefruit. I went to see a hernia specialist and he said it would be ok to just leave them alone. They don't hurt.