Time to change pouch

I have read that many of you change your pouch in less than 30 minutes. How is this possible? Granted, I have only changed mine about 8 times so far, but it is still taking me 1.5 to 2 hours to do this. I am not having issues with leaks or anything very tricky, but it still takes me a long time including:

-20 minutes to clean up my stoma and scrape off Adapt Barrier Ring residue

-30 minutes to create/revise my pattern (my stoma is new and is also an irregular oval shape that is a little wider on one end). I am super paranoid about getting too much bare skin around the stoma or making the opening too small. It is really hard to get it perfect

-5 minutes to cut the hole in the wafer using the pattern and then make sure it fits over stoma

-20 minutes to put on stoma powder and barrier wipe on a few minor raw areas very close to the stoma.

-5 minutes to put on the barrier ring and bag

-15 minutes to warm up the seal with my hands or a heating pad and make sure everything is sticking well.

Then, once everything is done and I take a look at my work, I always get frustrated because there is some little bit of skin showing along the stoma no matter how hard I tried to get it right. Today, I had the Adapt Barrier Ring perfectly snug qround my stoma (my ET nurse showed me this way instead of putting it on the wafer), yet, after i pressed the bag on top, I was once again able to see a little bit of bare skin (about 1/8 inch) on the underside of the stoma. The ring must have shifted or something. Now I have to wait 4 days to see if it causes any problems as I am not about to tear off the bag to try again. That would be horrible for my skin, not to mention that there are no guarantees I would do better the second time. My stoma tips over a bit which makes it hard too. If I hold the stoma straight up things look one way, but if I let it go, it tips towards my feet and touches the skin at its bottom edge a little. This makes it hard to create the perfect pattern.

I am also having trouble finding a time when my stoma is quiet and not spewing. It goes all night until around 10 a.m. and then quiets down until 2 p.m. before starting up again for the whole evening/night. This will not be convenient for work. Will my output slow a bit as my body gets used to this?

Will it always take me so long to change my appliance?

As your stoma starts to get to a normal size you really don't have to measure to cut. Mine ranges from 7/9" to 1". I did try the other week to cut the hole at 7/9" but that seemed to cause leaks so I went back to cutting a 1" circle.

I use Eakins instead of the Adapt rings, but I don't scrape the left over residue off; it actually seems to help.
I stopped using barrier wipes because it made the wear time shorter.
I also don't warm up the wafer. I might try it next change, but right now I'm getting 6-7 days consistently.

What I do is basically like this:
Prep wafer (cut hole and cut a quarter piece of an eakin ring and apply it around the hole) and prep a hot washcloth.
Remove old bag and wafer and discard
Take the hot washcloth and clean around the stoma and where the wafer sticks on.
Dry off the area with paper towels
Stick on new wafer and hold it there for at least a minute.
Snap on new bag and reattach ostomy belt.
Done.

I do this in the morning and it takes me about 15 minutes tops.

if you are having to scrape the stuff off, you can probably get more wear time.

This is what i do takes about 8 minutes.

I have my supplies ready in a box, with one wafer, one bag, one trash bag, 5 towel squares, a sure seal and a thing of paste. I cut the wafers at one time, so they ready to go, but ive had mine for 3 and half years so stoma size isn't changing!

i put the paste on the new wafer, peel back the paper backing, and put the new bag, the new wafer and two towel squares on the floor

I stick the bottom of the bag in the dispose bag, i pull the wafer part way down, clean that area, just with a rag, it usually pulls right off no residue left behind.

I drop the bag to the floor, cover the stoma with a towel square and clean underneath it.

i keep the stoma covered, i lay down, still keeping it covered.

I put the new wafer and bag on my leg, remove the towelsquare put the new wafer on and cover wtih a clean towel square right away, my stoma is uncovered/not over the bag for a total of like 10 seconds. i push my hands around the outside for 30 seconds or so, smoothing it out. Snap the bag on

I stand up, repostion the bag the way i want it

get the hair dryer and use it on the wafer, run my hands around a few more times, its very important to put the bag on before you use the hair dryer.

i know that sounds like a lot, but it takes like 7-8 minutes tops, unless my stoma is bleeding then it takes a bit longer.

then i put the sure seal on, that takes me probably 3 or 4 minutes.

Hey there... it get's better. I agree with Shaz032, a one-piece makes things quicker. I did it just like Shaz032 and it takes about 5 minutes -- and good to do it right after the shower as well. I changed the bag once a day at least and would have a leakage maybe once a week due to my hernia belt, but it wasn't such a bother.

Good luck!!

As summerstorm said - if you're scraping off sealant you're changing the system too often. I change mine every 4 days and the sealant is completely formed and kind of stiff by then so no scrapping off. The only time that happens is if somehow I get a leak and change way too early like 8 hours after changing the whole thing and the sealant hasn't had time to "cure" shall we say?

blue: I've got the change down to approx. 10 min with my ostomy. I do it first thing in the morning when I get up before the stoma becomes active so I don't have to worry about it discharging in the middle of the change. Believe me, you'll get more comfortable and therefore quicker at it as time goes on.