Dragonfly together with Coloplast
Rowing. racing bikes. Or gravel biking on unpaved roads: nothing cheers Corinna up more than a solid workout. “I exercise at least twice a week,” says Corinna. “Usually I go to the park on Wednesday evenings for a boot camp training and on the weekend I get on my bike. It gives me energy and a good feeling. In the corona lockdown I was inside a lot and didn’t feel well. I thought it was a mild depression and wanted to make an appointment with the doctor, until my husband suggested that I start exercising more. I thought: what nonsense. But I immediately recovered.”
In the video series My first time with a stoma together with other ostomists, Ricardo experiences several ‘firsts’ to prove that with a stoma, much more is possible than you might think. Curious about Corinna’s video? Check it out here.
Forever alone
In 2011, Corinna saw life less brightly. She then had a temporary colon stoma because she was not responding sufficiently to drugs for Crohn’s disease. The idea was to remove a piece of the colon so that there would be some rest. But complications arose and the doctors decided that the stoma would become permanent.
“I hated that the stoma became permanent. I would never have done the procedure if I had known beforehand that it was not temporary.”
“I was 29 years old and I thought I would always be alone.” But her life changed when she found that her disease activity remained stable and low. “I felt better, had more energy and no longer had to look for a toilet.”
Exciting first times
She also met her partner Falco in 2013. “Whether I immediately told him about my stoma? No, I wanted to get to know each other better first. His first reaction was what a stoma actually was. After that he had to swallow for a while, but he reacted soberly. Maybe also because we had fun for a while and he had noticed that I just led an active life with work and sports.”
Of course there have been exciting firsts. “It took some getting used to when bowel sounds can be heard after I’ve eaten something that doesn’t sit well. And being intimate with each other is less spontaneous: you should always check your stoma bag. Fortunately, Coloplast has bags that you can fold and not crackle like that. That makes me feel more free.”
Pregnant
After a few years, the couple wanted to start a family, but that was not so easy. “Because of the abdominal operations and the inflammation, I had a greater chance of adhesions. And that affects your fertility,” says Corinna. She visited a special outpatient clinic at Erasmus MC and was told that she can start to become pregnant. “At times I had my doubts about getting pregnant naturally, but I also didn’t want to start fertility treatment too soon. I thought: I have faith in my body. After eight months I was pregnant.”
Thinking in possibilities
Corinna now enjoys her daughter Juna (4) and her son Nils (2) and she works 28 hours a week as a physiotherapist. Corinna’s message to fellow ostomists is therefore: you can do more than you think. “With my story I want to inspire others to think in possibilities and do what you like.”
“You may not be able to run a marathon or do crossfit right away, but you can build it up. Don’t let fear hold you back.”
“I still don’t like being in the locker room and I don’t like to talk to everyone about my stoma, but I don’t see my stoma under my sportswear and I’ve never had a leak. Oh wait, once, while rowing. No one saw anything, but I didn’t hang around for another drink that afternoon.”
My first time with a stoma
The video series My first time with a stoma is an initiative of Coloplast, a company that develops products and offers services in the field of stoma care, urology, continence care and wound and skin care.
Looking forward to the video series My first time with a stoma? Watch the episodes here.
