OstomyMan

First off my disclaimer, I’m sure you’ve heard me mention my wife and that I’m married, so this is not a post about infidelity or how to “get ones kicks” while married. It’s just a simple observation of a change since I am feeling better. It has actually led to me being more attracted to my wife than detracting from it.

Over the past couple of days, I’ve noticed that I notice women more. This is not a slight against my wife in the least. I definitely love her. But in the past I have been so sick and uninterested in most things female (much to my wife’s dismay) that the most beautiful woman in the world could have come up to me and it wouldn’t have caused any kind of reaction. Being “good looking” or “cute” just didn’t warrant any attention with how low I was feeling. But now I’m feeling better and better and noticing how many good looking women there are in the world (my wife and one-year-old daughter included, though I guess I’m biased on that one!).

And this isn’t some kind of sexist thing. Nor some kind of weird ogling thing. It is what it is: a renewed admiration of women. I know I would appreciate a second look from some lady if I took the time to work out or look nice, so shouldn’t they get the same “respect” (re- Latin for again + specere Latin for to look).

Anyway, it’s just nice to be feeling well enough again to have enough attention and energy to notice and care about the outside world again.

It’s not been quite a decade since I’ve played golf, but it has been quite a while. It just wasn’t very workable with colitis for most of the time. Sometimes during a remission I could play, but even that wasn’t really possible in the last several years. That much walking without a bathroom anywhere around just wasn’t a good idea. Anyway, yesterday I broke the streak and went golfing. I actually had a lot of fun and the bathroom was the last thing on my mind, except of course when the port-a-potty was right behind the green and we were all joking about hitting it with someone inside. In fact I didn’t have any problems. And only once did I even notice my ostomy bag or my stoma. I just felt a little bit of a stretch (about the same as trying to crack my back when I’m a little stiff). Nothing to worry about. I was tickled pink. I used to love playing golf, and now I can do it again. Prices have gone up a bit (ok, a lot) since I last played, but my wife Chris is starting to get interested in trying it out, so I don’t think that will be a problem.