Fishing stories exist for a reason. The exaggerations are widely known. But we all know if you have been fishing that there really is nothing worse than coming home empty-handed from a fishing trip. Well, I would say the one thing worse would be not going on that fishing trip to start with! That is really a personal preference, so I want to just make sure that people who are new to having a stoma know that they can go out and be just about as active or enjoy the outdoors as much as they used to do before they had the surgery. If you are going to be on a wild speed boat ride I would probably get a stoma cover or guard that sportspeople use. It can help protect you from huge jolts when you hit the breaks or make a wild turn. Now, I hear a lot of people that talk down to people with stomas and treat them like they have a debilitating injury, and that truly confuses me. Yes, you have an injury and have an open wound-ish section on your body now, but hey we all have a mouth too! It is not worth giving up fun parts of your life to simply listen to people who are afraid or without knowledge. So just know that you can go out and enjoy the great outdoors, just plan a little ahead and keep your ostomy supplies on you and handy.
Now, we all have preferences on how we like to go fishing. For me when I go fishing I do prefer to use a small boat. Sometimes I am kayaking, which is a bit more difficult to paddle with a bag and life jacket on. But it is very doable. I love catching fish in a kayak. It is super fun and really cool to be dragged across a pond or lake by a smaller fish. I suggest it is more comfortable with a boat that has seats, so you can be more upright and have more space to move around.
That is the same rather you have a stoma or not! But I want to say you should make sure you have all the gear you need in case you get wet or go under. This means just to have a backup of your daily ostomy supplies with you. First I would make sure it's in a double waterproof situation. So get a good box that is waterproof and get a good ziplock to put inside of it with your gear. So if the boat tips or you just get splashed by a fish your stuff is dry.
Be healthy and bring some sanitizer too because fishing can be a bit dirty and grimy and there are bacteria everywhere. So be smart and make sure you are cleaning everything especially if you are going to be touching around your stoma. It should be common sense, but we have all forgotten to bring things and it's just worth planning a bit ahead and being safer than sorry on this one.
Don't hold back and not do something because you think it will be too hard or too much work. Lots of things in life are a lot of work and lots of them are a lot of fun too. Be wise and get good gear to help you have a fun fishy time.
