Sometimes with IBD, you have to go to the bathroom now and you just try to find the nearest bathroom. While we should all be in the habit of checking the stall first for toilet paper before going to the bathroom, sometimes we just jump on the toilet and worry about the clean up later.
Recently I found myself in one such situation. After going to the bathroom, I realized there was no paper!
I looked over to the sink to see if there was any paper in the drawers, but no such luck.
In extreme situations, paper towels will work, although they can be very chaffing. Unfortunately for me, the only towels were these stupid blue sheet towels!
Other times, though, you just seem to get lucky and hit the jackpot. I found this pleasant display once and hope you all might find such a treasure trove of toilet paper in your public restroom travels.
Airing my complaints about toilet paper. The video is pretty self explanitory. For a very serious issue and illness, we have to sometimes be light and not always heavy. This rant about toilet paper is truth, but I try to use humor in describing my feelings about it. Personally, one of the biggest ways I cope is by using humor. Without it, it would be very difficult for me to handle a lot of what I’m going through. According to a study by Scott Tissue, fifty four percent of people fold their toilet tissue neatly while 35 percent wad it into a ball before using it. I think to myself: ‘what about the other 11 percent?’ EW! Anyway, enjoy my video!
“A sense of humor… is needed armor. Joy in one’s heart and some laughter on one’s lips is a sign that the person down deep has a pretty good grasp of life.” ~Hugh Sidey
~Nadia
QUESTION: HAVE YOU EVER BEEN ABLE TO USE HUMOR IN WAYS TO HELP YOU DEAL WITH YOUR ILLNESS? Share your funny comments!
Bathroom issues are a delicate subject which most people wish not to discuss. However, everybody poops, everybody pees, everybody passes gas–it’s a fact of life. But nobody wants to talk about these body functions, yet it happens to all. It’s not easy nor common for me to say, “Hi, I’m Nadia, I have IBD issues, and I sit on the toilet and crap my brains out.” Nobody would ever say that, but living with IBD, this is the sad truth. This is my rant about this issue. It doesn’t lower your femininity because you have issues with going to the bathroom, yet so often we feel that we can’t even talk about this. Girls don’t talk about pooping and diarrhea. Girls don’t talk about farting. You ask most girls and they deny they even do it!! Well, I will be the first to admit that I do, and sometimes it’s BAD, but I’m not ashamed because I cannot help it! This is a horrible illness and we are sick. Where is the shame in that? Girls, We are not Barbie dolls. We are HUMAN!! We have to get over the stigma and start talking about this. How do we raise awareness unless we talk about it?
“Only man can blush.
No other creature knows of shame.
Why have we wandered so far away
From simple honesty?” ~Edwin Leibfreed
~Nadia
QUESTION: IS IT DIFFICULT FOR YOU TO TALK ABOUT YOUR IBD/CROHNS/COLITIS ISSUES? IS THIS A TABOO SUBJECT FOR YOU? AND IF SO, WHY?
Jon seems to be overwhelmed in this latest Garfield Minus Garfield comic. IBD can be very difficult many days, no doubt about that. Hopefully you have more bright days than gray days.
Here’s a fun little video of nursing students rapping about ostomies. The video’s not the best quality but the rap is kind of funny and good for a laugh or two.
The folks over at Living with UC, which is really just a corporate site for Remicade, have a new advertisement they’ve been airing on TV. Maybe you’ve seen it. It features hockey player Fernando Pisani talking about ulcerative colitis.
I like Pisani and think he helps out the IBD community a lot, but one thing I found funny about this ad is the symptoms of ulcerative colitis that they list. The only symptoms mentioned are: fatigue, abdominal pain, and weight loss.
Really? Those symptoms are pretty general. They left out my favorite symptom–bloody, urgent, frequent, and uncontrollable diarrhea!
Maybe saying it like that doesn’t make for a catchy ad.
I haven’t found a good Garfield Minus Garfield comic in many months. Jon’s lack of appetite perfectly captures how I felt directly after each surgery some days.
