If you have ended up with a colostomy I hope you have come to terms with it. My experience has been pretty uneventful. I'd say it was normalised for me after a year had passed. I had chemo, post op and I have some effects due to RT many years ago. At least you and I can say we expected to wake up after our surgery with a stoma. Waking up and finding it all a surprise would be much worse. It happened to a friend of mine and he was pretty shattered by his shock ileostomy after emergency surgery for something totally different.

Initially, life revolves about driving the little chap properly and being prepared for its surprises. My stoma nurses were very supportive but I realise that there are so many variations in the way stomas work for different people that it's basically a self drive exercise.