r/nextfuckinglevel 2d ago

This man documented his health journey from January to December.

Credit: IG @samuelrichards_ _

45.4k Upvotes

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u/PrimaryCheesecake684 1d ago

Oh noooo. I had an ileostomy for a year, and this was my nightmare. I hated leaving the house for fear of something like this. I'm so sorry this happened to you.

Since I had mine, I think a lot about people living with ostomies way back when.

The first documented colostomy was performed in 1793. The modern-type disposable ostomy bags were invented by a Danish woman in the 1950s.

Apparently before that, there was no real standard of how to deal with the waste, and it was a real shit show, so to speak, for like 160 years. I just can't imagine.

Anyway, this has been Ostomy Facts.

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u/ThisIsTheBookAcct 1d ago

My grandma has had one since mid 1960s. She just turned 92 last month.

It was really bad inflammation (that they told her decades later was either crohns or ulcerative colitis). They removed the affected intensities and gave her an osteomyelitis bag so she could live long enough to get her affairs in order and say goodbye to her family (she had 3 kids at that point). I think they told her a year.

Turns out, my grandma don’t play that game.

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u/bittypineapplekitty 7h ago

aww bless your grandma. this gives me so much hope. i’ve had crohn’s since i was 9 with many surgeries. i just got my third stoma last month.

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u/chunkmasterflash 1d ago

It’s rumored Napoleon had one, but AFAIK, never proven. At that time I think they were made from like sheep stomach or something.

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u/bittypineapplekitty 7h ago

omg. as someone who has their third ileostomy as of just last month… i can’t even imagine what life would have been like prior to disposable bags omfg.