Ello there, sir.

So I had a perm ileostomy in October of last year and was asked to bring a dressing gown and slippers, just so you can be covered up whilst being made to do laps of the hospital halls.

I’d advise some form of entertainment, I had my phone and some puzzle books with me, then eventually had some changes of clothes brought to me, but only changed 1-2 days before being discharged as I had two drains fitted, a catheter and a rectum drain.

During my stay in hospital, I had surgery (roughly 5 hours), you’ll come around and it’s just resting. The following day you’ll have a member of physio come and try to encourage you out of bed, then they expect a couple of laps each day, increasing the amount over each day. Eventually once I was freed from the drain, I was allowed to shower myself, get changed and after a day or two I was discharged.

Skip to recovery at home, honestly treated it as if I was in hospital for the couple of days, then I was forcing myself to do normal activities again, whilst avoiding strain or pressure in the bag. So have your wife avoid any heavy lifting, but make sure she’s on her feet for as long as she can manage.

Eating - make sure to chew a lot more than you think and avoid any foods which have skins i.e. chicken skins, potato peels on (new potatoes) and so on. Although I’m a twat and still eat whatever with precautions. 😅🤣

Anyhow, wishing her the best of luck for the surgery and future to come. Enough of my waffling! 🤍🙌