Almost like before: the ressignification of the identity of stomized persons affected by cancer

Having come to the conclusion that the presence of a major disease is a cause of suffering for the sick person as well as for his or her family, this study has been performed to understand the meaning of disease experience for the person who is suffering from cancer and who has had a permanent ostomy and the impact on the person’s identity. This study has been performed in Passo Fundo and the surrounding area. It refers to a prospective qualitative approach study, which has followed the subjects for a period of one year, from the moment the subject was admitted to hospital, and when surgery was undertaken. All the ethic measurements of volunteer participation have been respected, cleared out and agreed with. We have used the oral life history as a methodological reference to obtain all the necessary data. We have also performed a series of five interviews with each subject during this year’s follow-up: two of them during hospital staying and three of them three, six and twelve months after having written down the interviews, they have all been presented in a narrative form. Data analyses have focused on changes which have occurred to the subject’s identity and the ways each of them has found to recover it, having the theoretical support of this study as basis. This study has shown that after the first impact caused by the disease and the ostomy, the subjects experience an identity rebuilt process which includes acceptance and life replacement. The main adapting form was positive resignation, devotion to God and religion, the return to previous activities, counting on family support, managing memory among others. Maintaining the recovered identity will depend on each subject’s skill to respond to the events which will affect their lives.
Key-words: cancer, chronicle disease, ostomy, identity, life history, narrative.