Wel­come Fel­low Osto­m­ates
Hi, Sheri Rod­well here, writ­ing from where I now live in Cal­gary, Alberta, Canada. I’d like to tell you a lit­tle bit about me and why I devel­oped this web site.

When I was 12, I was diag­nosed with Crohn’s Dis­ease. I was in pain and ill for years, but, like many of you, I resisted the idea of surgery. How­ever, by the time I was 23, there was no choice left in the mat­ter. I had to get an ostomy. Even though my new bag was a very wel­come alter­na­tive to years of stab­bing abdom­i­nal pains and embar­rass­ing restroom emer­gen­cies, I still had to deal with all of the emo­tional aspects of being a 23 year old sin­gle woman who had a drain in her stomach.

I got my ostomy before there was the inter­net to find infor­ma­tion and con­nect with other ostomates, so I felt pretty much left on my own once home from the hos­pi­tal. Ostomy Sup­port groups were around. They were infor­ma­tive, yet, because of my age, I didn’t go to them. I felt quite alone. Now that we have the inter­net, we no longer need to be so alone on this jour­ney of self-discovery.

I devel­oped this web site to pro­vide a place where peo­ple can shop for sup­plies, learn about new prod­ucts, find links to other great stuff, and, most impor­tantly, find con­nec­tions to local Ostomy Asso­ci­a­tions where you can con­nect and learn more about what is going in the Ostomy world.

Love, Sheri (Rod­well, aka Sheri Perkins of Erring­ton, Van­cou­ver Island, BC, Canada)

[Editor’s note: Sheri’s writ­ings are spread out over time so they’re not strictly a follow-on from the pre­vi­ous writ­ing. I’m sure you will find them most inter­est­ing and, hope­fully, find her expe­ri­ences and pos­i­tive mes­sages help­ful. Below are links to Sheri’s per­sonal jour­ney expe­ri­ence writ­ings and thoughts. You can also access these links from the side menu, or the “About Me” menu on the top-right of the page. ]

• [Cur­rent page] About Me — My “Pull Through” Jour­ney — Introduction
• Con­trol­ling Crohn’s Dis­ease? Anorexia worked! Until it didn’t.
• Accept­ing the Hos­pi­tal ~ No other choice left.
• Trans­fer­ring Closer to Home
• Yes­ter­day I Cried ~ With an agenda.
• It’s OK to Cry
• My Pre­scrip­tion Drug Addic­tion — Good or Bad?
• Leav­ing the Poor Me Stage
• My Jour­ney of Pulling Through — Final Thoughts