PURPOSE: This study investigates the relationship of a binary assessment of life discontinuity associated with ileostomy surgery (Interrupted or Continuing) with time since surgery. METHODOLOGY: The retrospective study uses a subset of data from the 125-question Ostomy Comprehensive Health and Life Assessment survey (n = 612). Data taken from the ongoing, nationally distributed survey include participants with a single permanent ileostomy stoma who were not more than ten years post-operative at the time of the survey. The assessment of life discontinuity is based on measures of adaptation and body image. Participants classified as “Continuing” report having adapted “quite well” to living with a stoma, do not consider themselves disabled because of their stoma, and do not report negative body image attributable to their stoma. Data were analyzed using chi-square tests, Mantel-Haenszel statistics and logistic regression. RESULTS: The data suggest that the odds of a participant reporting the combination of attitudes associated with overcoming life discontinuity increase by 24.5 percent each year after surgery. A model using years after surgery and gender as predictors correctly classified 61.8 percent of the observations that were used to develop the model. However, the proportion of participants reporting a negative body image attributable to their stoma does not change significantly within the ten-year time period studied. CONCLUSIONS: The data suggest that attitudes associated with overcoming life discontinuity change significantly within the first ten years following ileostomy surgery. However, this change in attitudes appears to be independent of body image. Further investigation of this recovery process and its underlying mechanisms may suggest practice innovations that will improve ileostomy patient outcomes. DISCLOSURE: Research funding from Hollister Incorporated is gratefully acknowledged.