The Journal of Stomal Therapy Australia - Australian Association of ...

Beneath the waves
Grant McLaren • Ileostomate since 24 December 2001
After six weeks I was back to work (in Chile at 3,200 m above
sea level) and after nine months I was re-acquainting myself
with running, climbing in the Andes and riding my Harley
around quaint little South American villages and pueblos. I
was extremely fortunate to be strongly on the mend, but one
favourite pastime was still to be conquered – scuba diving!
Prior to the operation, I had been just short of titled ‘fanatical’
as I would dive every weekend in the icy cold depths of the
Humboldt Current that sweeps up the west coast of Chile. I
missed it and longed for the camaraderie of my dive buddies.
The question was out there – when?
Probably like most ostomates, I thought that the world as I knew
it was coming to an end when I had ‘X’ marked on my lower
abdomen and was dutifully told that at that site I was going
to have my small intestine pulled through a perforation in my
body.
It was my first sensation of surreality. At this shattering meeting
with my specialist I was a distant observer trying to fathom
the whole scenario, whilst also physically present. The ‘real’
me was grappling with questions around recovery time, family
and work. The ‘observing’ me was more pragmatic, thinking of
other alternatives, second opinions or even ‘putting it off for a
while’. But the two of me came crashing back together when I
woke after the operation to find the most ugly thing on the face
of the earth hanging out of my lower abdomen – I went into
panic mode.
What about intimacy, longevity, doing all the zany things of
my past – losing friends? The questions repeatedly hammered
through my mind until out of the gloom appeared my STN – a
ray of optimism, care and professionalism. With smiling aplomb,
she managed to dispel all of my immediate fears. We tackled and
nailed all the points of domestic trepidation in quick time and I
was quickly into ‘suck it up and get on with it’ mode – not least
thanks to her motivation and the unwavering support of my
family. Then I was onto solving the puzzle of which parts of my
former life I could return to.
On my twelve-month visit to the specialist I broached the
subject and was given a cautious ‘thumbs up’ to give it a try at
increments of 5 m depth at a time. So, with my long-term dive
buddy we worked out a plan and I instructed him, “...if I bob
up to the surface and my ileostomy bag has blown up and we
are surrounded by flotsam and jetsam then you should swim
for your life!”. Down we went, metre by metre until I was at a
depth of 32 m. All went well and the return to the surface was
uneventful – I was back in the briny depths and loving it!
To date, I have amassed a total of 400+ dives – 50 of those since
my operation; I have since been to the Red Sea, the Galapagos
and Yucatan Peninsula, diving long/short, deep/shallow,
tepid/icy, thick wet suit/Lycra body suit, salt/fresh water, off
rubber duckies/the back of cruise charters/the shore. In every
combination I have had no problems.
I continue to use a standard lead weight, belt. This can be
somewhat uncomfortable, especially when wearing a thin
dive suit and after successive dives – I have decided that
my next buoyancy compensation device (BCD) will have an
integrated weight system.This will also minimise the weight
being manually handled before and after the dive. Care not to
over-exert around the stoma area is required when trying to lift,
say, a 10 kg weight belt from the water into a dinghy, especially
if there is no help in the dinghy. I leave cords tied around a
dinghy/duckie, so that I can tether the belt, BCD and tank, then
retrieve them once in the boat.
The art of climbing back into a dinghy/duckie has to be
somewhat modified so that the stoma is neither dragged across
the gunwale, nor over-exertion transferred to the stoma area.
This can be overcome with a deft twist and roll motion, all of
which makes one look like a harpooned seal floundering on
26 JOURNAL OF STOMAL THERAPY AUSTRALIA 2007 27(3)