There certainly are so many things that happen when the weather gets cooler and the Holidays start happening.  People are gathering and lots of different food and drinks are being consumed.  For most of us, this is a time when we forget our diets and put on a few pounds.  If you have a stoma this is the time when your ostomy bag may be making different movements, sounds, and growing exponentially due to strange gasses. 

Let's be honest though, in my family, it means that I am also outside hunting while the rest of my family is around the fire eating pie.  The reality is that the holidays bring about lots of different scenarios and that having a stoma can really dictate lots of things.  It may mean that you need to be careful or what you are eating or that you may need to be overprotective of it while you are hunting in the woods in winter. 

My year usually begins with me planning out vacation around different hunting seasons during the holidays.  I prefer to hunt alone and it turns out that some of the best days fall on or around holiday times that are planned with my family. So this is something that I am always planning for and it gives me a great excuse to have some me-time when the parties are going on.  I like to spend the morning and afternoons outside working on finding game for the dinner table.  I am also a fan of using my stoma and ostomy to my own advantage.  This sounds a bit wild, but with my stoma I am able to go very long times without having to empty my ostomy bag.

Surprisingly, this attribute allows me to have an advantage in hunting during the holidays. It also allows me to consume extra food and such without feeling bogged down most of the time.  But beware fiber is a killer for the ostomy bag and can end up damaging it if you are not careful. So try to understand what prunes due and be careful of dried fruit.  You may be in for one wild ride rather you like it or not.  But back to the advantages of the ostomy bag.

Most of the game I hunt has an amazing sense of smell. They smell humans up to 40 times better than we can smell them.  This means that if you end up farting while hunting it is usually a game over situation.  They can smell you a mile away and you are flat out of luck.  So the best thing to do is to be scent-free. 

I try to use scent-free clothing and luckily my ostomy bags are just as good as professional hunting gear on scent-free products. So I have a huge advantage.  I don't have to go to the bathroom when I am hunting.  This means I am able to stay out longer and be quieter than others who don't have an ostomy.   It is an incredible gift that I learned and since I am all about not letting my health get me down, this was a great spirit lifter. 

So all in all the holidays are a time when I am careful of what I eat, and grateful that I am able to use my stoma to put more food on the table.