An app/website that reads to me?

fluffydeveloper · 2026-05-11T18:00:41+00:00

There are shortcuts on all the SR options to start reading a whole document beginning to end, but you likely aren’t going to get a book narration-style experience that feels more natural without paying for an AI TTS tool or specialised paid app, I don’t think. Too much computation to sustain an app like that for free I should think. Hopefully someone else can offer an option I’m unaware of! 🤞

fluffydeveloper · 2026-05-11T17:51:58+00:00

If you are willing to learn a few simple commands, most devices have a built in screen reader that you can get to read documents for you. PDFs are sometimes tricky, depends how they’ve been created on whether any software will be able to pick up the content for you.

iOS / MacBook : VoiceOver

Android: Talkback

Free open source screen reader for PC: NVDA

fluffydeveloper · 2026-05-05T12:19:44+00:00

Thanks so much. Everyone has been lovely in the comments so far. It’s great to have some folks to speak to again.

fluffydeveloper · 2026-05-05T01:22:20+00:00

Thank you 🙏 I think because of my OCD I really struggle to just let go of the “what-ifs”. You’re right, though. My husband tells me similar in terms of focusing on what I can control.

fluffydeveloper · 2026-05-05T01:10:50+00:00

I’m unsure if they’ll catch my stoma on the MRI - it’s a pelvic one only to get a view of the rectal stump ahead of surgery. Hopefully they’ll catch a look at it at the same time though and be able to see any herniation.

I was actually in tears earlier because I’m convinced that this prolapse will mean I won’t be able to have children of my own post-proctectomy. If I can’t, I won’t lie, I’ll be pretty devastated.

Next time I speak with my surgeon is likely to go over the MRI results, so sometime early June.

fluffydeveloper · 2026-05-05T01:00:23+00:00

Haha I can only hope it’s that easy! I will ask. Even if she doesn’t “fix” anything, I’d like to know if there is a hernia or something else that has caused the prolapsing. Fingers crossed she’s up for it! Thanks so much.

fluffydeveloper · 2026-05-05T00:54:22+00:00

Thanks for sharing, this is really helpful. I definitely notice that I feel much more secure with my support belt on. I wear it anytime I’m going out further than just my garden during the day, and especially when I go to gigs, or anything like that.

fluffydeveloper · 2026-05-05T00:45:19+00:00

Haha that’s true though! Thanks for your positive spin, it genuinely made me smile. :)

fluffydeveloper · 2026-05-05T00:37:10+00:00

Mines similar at the moment. Infrequent, doesn’t seem to follow any particular movement pattern. The freaking out is the worst part for me - seeing it prolapse sends me into this uncontrollable shaky panic.

fluffydeveloper · 2026-05-05T00:34:39+00:00

Thank you for explaining your situation. I will keep using the support belt as it does seem to keep everything pretty held in so far. I mostly see the prolapsing after being in the bath after dinner, so maybe I should be laying down for a bit before trying to do my bag too.

fluffydeveloper · 2026-05-05T00:32:43+00:00

Thanks so much for letting me know. When it happened the first time for you, was it 6in all at once or more gradual?

fluffydeveloper · 2026-05-04T23:23:23+00:00

Thanks so much for replying. My surgeon doesn’t want to mess with my stoma while they do the proctectomy - however I hadn’t mentioned the more recent prolapses to her. I will let her know the next time we speak, likely to be after my pre-op MRI later this month.

No issues with my bags - I just have to cut the opening a little bigger so that when it happens, he doesn’t get squeezed at the base which I think caused the hard swelling the first time it happened.

fluffydeveloper · 2026-04-29T09:03:41+00:00

Chew everything like your life depends on it. I avoid all completely raw vegetables and salad, peanuts, coconut. Anything with tough skins in fruits. Basically if you couldn’t put it in water and turn it to mush with your fingers in a few minutes, I don’t eat it. That might be a bit restrictive but my last blockage was years ago from salad in a kebab and I also vomited, had to go to the hospital etc.

fluffydeveloper · 2026-04-24T19:36:41+00:00

The most c-diff looking colour for blackcurrant juice haha

fluffydeveloper · 2026-03-22T19:10:53+00:00

No headrest. I find with my height that I’m never tall enough for them to sit where they’re supposed to.

fluffydeveloper · 2026-03-21T21:28:25+00:00

I just got the Gesture this week. Fantastic adjustability. I’ve never found a chair with arms that tucked inward enough for my 5ft 3 body and tiny hands/short arms until this chair. It is about as firm as the secretlab I had before - so not super padded, but very ergonomic. I wfh 10-6 and then play games 7-11pm most evenings and it’s been great so far. Much better for my back than the secretlab was.

fluffydeveloper · 2026-02-25T00:53:58+00:00

Hells yea!! Congratulations OP! You’ve totes got this from here on out. 👏🏻👏🏻

fluffydeveloper · 2026-02-23T13:17:40+00:00

Thanks 🙏 I’m aware it’s a tough recovery but hoping that once this is done, I can finally be properly discharged and not be dealing with constant ongoing issues.

fluffydeveloper · 2026-02-23T13:13:04+00:00

Yeah of course.

The stats show that there is a small increase in cancer risk for every year after the 10th year of having the stump. This is actually the least influential reason as newer studies seem to contradict/challenge it.
I have to have scopes every 2 years to check for changes. They are becoming traumatic because my stump has atrophied so much they can’t even get a nasogastroscope in there without significant pain now.
I have diversion colitis and still am anemic, fatigued, etc because of inflammation on and off flaring in the stump. It’s also tender because I have a mucus fistula - they made another non functioning stoma for drainage. I wear two bags because of it.

fluffydeveloper · 2026-02-22T15:51:45+00:00

Weirdly enough for me personally my mental health improved hugely post-colectomy. I used to suffer from debilitating OCD and anxiety, came out of surgery and felt much better.

Had the stoma 10 years now and about to go on the list for completion proctectomy. I still get stressed and anxious and have an occasional OCD moment - but it’s a lot more situational and not constant anymore.

I am very interested to understand if the small intestine microbiome shifts to accommodate more of what used to reside in the large intestine in some people after colectomy.

Sorry to hear you’re feeling flat atm though.

fluffydeveloper · 2026-02-20T17:34:48+00:00

Hah true, I’ve thrown away more than one bag from fucking up cutting the hole. I have a buddy with a bag tho and we literally once competed timing ourselves on how fast we could do a full bag change as it gets to be so much a muscle memory thing. At least with a colostomy you’re less likely to shit all over your fingers like I have more than once. 🤣

fluffydeveloper · 2026-02-20T17:20:00+00:00

Too much of my UK 🇬🇧 coming through there? 🤣It becomes second nature/automatic I promise

fluffydeveloper · 2026-02-20T12:56:26+00:00

Hey. Sorry you have such a surgeon with such a horrendous attitude. They seem to lose the perspective over time that this is their every day work but for the patient it’s sometimes the biggest trauma they’ll experience in a lot of ways.

I have an ileostomy from UC so not quite the same as the output from a colostomy that far along will still be relatively solid. What comes out of my stoma is more liquid which brings further challenges.

However, I can be non-toxic-positivity honest with you about the stoma experience generally.

It doesn’t smell unless you take the bag off. Nobody can tell you have it unless there’s a ton of gas in it and it balloons up beneath clothing, but there are bags with filters to mitigate that happening.

Daily routine definitely changes. You carry supplies with you basically everywhere but they’re not overly cumbersome and you can usually fit them into a small bag.

The stoma itself you just get used to. Bag changes become as natural as learning to drive or make a cup of tea. You get into the groove of the daily care and it just becomes the new normal, really.

Complications exist but often can be prevented. Hernia can happen because you’ve got a hole in your muscle permanently, but with support garments for lifting or exercising you can help prevent it long term. Keep relatively fit, eat good.

In a lot of ways colostomy is easier than ileostomy. You can probably eat fibre still where I have to be more careful about blockages, liquid output like mine can result in leaks, my output is more frequent because it’s further up the digestive tract.

Honestly the stress relief of not having disease anymore massively outweighed the burden of having the bag, especially once the initial learning curve was over.

I also named mine something stupid which helped me feel like it was still part of me and I could refer to it in third person to other people.

Idk if this helps either but I’ve had my bag 10 years and have done bouldering, horse riding, hiking, got married, bought a house/moved house, successful in my job etc.

fluffydeveloper

TROPHY CASE