Stomy

When my WOC nurse told me to name my stoma - I thought she was on crack.

Name it? What was it a pet?

I couldn't even stand to look at it. But then I remembered that the nurses weren't always going to be there. It was me and my stoma and I had to take care of it. I made it my mission to be able to care for it by myself.

I named him "Stomy".

And I have no idea why I chose to personify it as a male...

So Stomy and I became best of friends - or at least living companions.

And you know what? It wasn't as scary or as hard as I thought it would be. I actually began watching Stomy. I was truly fascinated, and still am, with how my small intestine was functioning outside of my body. And sometimes you could identify the foods you had just consumed.

WARNING: Blue Italian ice will come out blue on the other end.

My husband actually had to tell me to "put that thing away" a few times. Apparently he didn't find Stomy to be as interesting as I did...

The emptying was a little gross at times, but I found that if I rinsed the bag with room temp water every time I emptied, the smell wasn't that bad. I just kept a red Solo cup near the toilet. You will figure out quickly what works for you.

My WOC nurse did a wonderful job teaching me how to change the bag. I changed it every three days, give or take. I even surprised the visiting nurses who came to the house for the next eight weeks with how adept I was at changing it. It wasn't that hard though: Get new bag ready, pull off old bag (think of removing a bandaid), clean area, apply the powder and spray that comes with the bags, put new bag on. It only takes a minute or two.

It wasn't always smooth, but here are some tips:

1. Use baby wash clothes to clean around the stoma. They are small and easy to maneuver. Remember no soap on the stoma.

2. If you feel burning around the stoma - change your bag. Chances are there is a leak in the adhesive and your gastric juices are eating away at your skin underneath the adhesive. This can be painful, especially when the skin around the stoma started to bleed. Wash carefully with warm water, Cake on some of that special powder they give you and put the adhesive right onto the broken skin. Sounds crazy, but it will protect the broken skin from the gastric juices. Make sure you consult with your WOC nurse. I ended up in a convex bag because my stoma was trying to wiggle his way underneath the adhesive part of the bag. Also make sure you measured your stoma properly. If the bag is too big then any exposed skin will break down. Mine was healed by the time I went to change the bag three days later.

3. Try not to eat or drink for a few hours before you change the bag. Sometimes this helps because your stoma will be less active (think early morning). Sometimes it won't help and you will spew stuff everywhere and make a huge mess. It's okay. S*** happens. Keep breathing and try to not let your hands shake. You can clean up the mess in the bathroom once you get your new clean bag attached firmly.

4. I found that laying down and applying pressure to the adhesive disk immediately after attaching the bag helped. Sometimes I did this for five or ten minutes. It also helped me relax after changing the bag.

5. Always have a garbage bag handy and ready to be thrown outside. Don't want to leave a smelly ostomy bag laying around in the bathroom for days.