My first Christmas since having a stoma and I was rather worried. Having not had alcohol since May I decided to start off with a pear cider at home to see what happened. Any side effects? Yes, the first was being slightly tipsy due to the lack of alcohol tolerance. The second I found out about in the night. I was awoken at about 4am when I rolled over to find a balloon attached to me. Yes, my bag had so much gas in it that it had inflated so much it was difficult to empty. However, those being the only two effects I thought it would be safe to have a pint at the works Christmas meal.

This leads me onto the issue of food. When anyone mentions Christmas food my first thought is of one of the best food inventions ever, first made popular in the 1950’s, those little sausages wrapped in bacon. Yes I’m talking about pigs in blankets. Now back in the summer after I was first diagnosed and put on a restricted diet, both bacon and sausages were banned. However now with a stoma, as long as I chewed properly, a Christmas meal with all the trimmings would be possible. And it was. I managed a full traditional Christmas meal, will all the trimmings (apart from sprouts. Not a good idea due to their windy after effects…)

Moving onto New Years Eve I was feeling pretty good still with my food and starting to try out different food. At a friend’s house I tried some Indian bites from the buffet, they went down nicely. However that evening I ballooned badly! Nearly 3 tines in the night I was awoken to a bag full of air. I wondered what was going on. Was it the food? The half bottle of beer? I was confused. That evening when getting ready for a shower I had my answer. The small carbon filter that releases natural occurring gas get damaged if wet, so to prevent damage I cover them with a small, plastic sticker. I had left my sticker on… That was why I was getting the ballooning effect! Mystery solved…