ostomy – Page 6 – Own Your Crohn's

acceptance, advocacy, awareness, Crohn's, Gratitude, living with IBD, Mindfulness, Ostomy, Ulcerative Colitis

Owning My Crohn’s Mindfully This New Year

January 5, 2019

A journalist recently asked me, “Where do you see yourself in 5 years, Tina?” It was a mind-boggling question; I could barely wrap my head around the chronicity of my illnesses forget about thinking so far ahead into the future. The truth is I don’t know what tomorrow will bring, sickness or health, and I’m not so sure I want to even think about it. Sure, the future appears bright with many new medications and research in the pipeline to treat inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). But one thing I’ve come to learn in all the ebbs and flows of living with IBD is that I need to live for today…

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Tina Aswani Omprakash

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Crohn’s & Colitis Awareness Week: Minorities, Mental Health & IBD

December 9, 2018

This IBD Awareness Week, the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation shared a video of me discussing one aspect of being South Asian: maintaining privacy. Privacy is a major concern when it comes to South Asian Americans sharing their personal IBD journeys. There is a phrase in Hindi & Urdu called “Log Kya Kahenge?” It is a cultural phenomenon that expresses deep concern for how society will view patients and their families once their stories are public. But the reality is that suffering in silence can lead to deep-rooted shame while deterring self-care and self-advocacy, two very important aspects to our medical care. In this video, I talk about my experiences as a…

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Tina Aswani Omprakash

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IBD Awareness Week Line-Up: Diversity, Mental Health & More!

December 1, 2018

Today kicks off Crohn’s & Colitis Awareness Week! The lead-up to this week has included my (very exciting!) feature on the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation’s website for general IBD awareness and for racial and ethnic minorities. I also had the honor of sharing my IBD story with reporters from various media outlets who attended the Foundation’s briefing this past week. In discussing my story, I talked about the cultural impact of being a minority woman with Crohn’s Disease and a permanent ostomy. Being a different race, gender, sexuality and/or ethnicity adds a whole other layer of complexity to the IBD experience. I really wanted to bring to light how complicated our…

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Tina Aswani Omprakash

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Allowing Acceptance In

November 21, 2018

Thanksgiving season is upon us, dearests! As we prepare to celebrate life, love and laughter with our families and friends, it may be tough to avoid the elephant in the room: our chronic illnesses and disabilities. As hard as this may be, we can get through the holidays together by advocating for better quality of life and allowing acceptance of our conditions in! Our bodies may not be in perfect condition but let’s be thankful today and always for the moments of health, peace and joy that shine their way into our lives. ‘Tis the season to allow acceptance to pervade our lives to cultivate more love and better self-care!…

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Tina Aswani Omprakash

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Edgar Flores opens up about surviving near-death and the challenges of living with an ostomy in Mexico
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Edgar Flores opens up about surviving near-death and the challenges of living with an ostomy in Mexico

November 4, 2018

Ayatka Wuikot Tlatuan is the Native American name given to Edgar Flores, a 48-year-old Mexico City native who was born into two tribes. His mother Aztec and father Apache Indian. Just over two years ago, Edgar developed appendicitis and underwent an emergency operation to remove his appendix. What happened next truly shocked him. “I thought the operation had gone smoothly, but within a few days I began to experience severe stomach pain and felt very weak,” he said. As the situation went from bad to worse, Edgar was rushed to the hospital where an ER surgeon discovered that his abdomen was filling with blood. He was hemorrhaging from the inside. Read…

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Tina Aswani Omprakash

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TINA ASWANI OMPRAKASH | 2018 NYC ADULT HONORED HERO
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All of these exceptional women have won awards this year for their public advocacy efforts

October 16, 2018

Winner, winner! Inspirational role models we look up to. Ostomy awareness involves advocacy, and to be effective in advocating for change we need influencers. Advocacy can be standing up and speaking out for a cause, voicing concerns about misconceptions, or connecting with individuals and organizations who need support. All of these exceptional women have won awards this year for their public advocacy efforts. Amber Wallace won a WEGO Health Award. View image on Twitter WEGO Health@wegohealth Congratulations to 2018 #WEGOHealthAwards Best Kept Secret winner Amber Wallace! @ostomydiaries Check out all the finalist & winner videos from this year’s celebration here: https://wegoh.co/2OWMWdb 4:50 PM – Oct 8, 2018 4 See WEGO Health’s other…

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Tina Aswani Omprakash

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Real Talk about Ostomies

October 5, 2018

On the eve of World Ostomy Day, I write this blog post in hopes of debunking many of the myths surrounding living with an ostomy. So here goes nothing… I always get super excited when friends and family muster up the courage to ask about my ostomy. It makes me feel so connected to them and like I’m being recognized for all of me and not just the healthy-looking parts of me. I feel their concern, their love and most of all, their interest in how I live my life, chronic illness and disabilities abound. See, the thing is, living with an ostomy is often the proverbial elephant in the…

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Tina Aswani Omprakash

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No More Secrets: An enlightening film that reveals the stigma of having an ostomy in India

September 24, 2018

In a world that’s still struggling with the concept of life-saving ostomy surgery, India comes chock full of psychosocial taboos. In addition to the challenge of costly medical supplies, ostomies are widely viewed as unacceptable in this country and can even become barriers to pursuing careers and relationships. Filmmaker Anisha Vijayan recognized the need to educate the masses about living with an ostomy in India. After months of interviews and countless hours of research and production, her documentary No More Secrets was released earlier this year. She shared with OC the inspiration behind creating the film and how it’s offering encouragement to ostomates in South Asia. Read the full story on…

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Tina Aswani Omprakash

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The Value of Support Groups

August 26, 2018

In a world where medical professionals have only a few minutes to go over a whole slew of symptoms, medication interactions, and surgical complications, it is impossible to cover the psychosocial aspects of one’s condition(s). These aspects include methods of coping with the emotional roller coaster of living with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).This is where support groups come into the picture. They fill that gap between doctor-patient interactions and provide real-time support and understanding to patients caught in the rigmarole of hospital visits, health insurance, and invasive testing. But more than this, the true value of support groups lies in empowering patients by fostering lifelong friendships through a deep understanding of…

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Tina Aswani Omprakash

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Metamorphosis

August 13, 2018

This past weekend marked 3 years since my series of surgeries at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota. That trial was my greatest test to date. 3 surgeries back to back to clean out remnants of j-pouch, rectum and anal sphincter that left behind a wound the size of a small football. From daunting saltwater whirlpools, Jackson-Pratt drains, Hydrogen Peroxide flushes into my pelvis, a wound VAC and procedures under sedation every other day to clean out the wound. I was on 6 different painkillers and I was barely hanging on for life. In the months prior, I had drains galore, one from my back down my leg with a bag…

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Tina Aswani Omprakash

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