For those of you that may be having an ileostomy performed soon,
I have spent many hours looking to find pictures/videos about
stomas, bags, etc. just to give me a better idea of what to expect for myself!
I found a good video that shows a younger woman changing her ileostomy appliance--you see her stoma, how the bag and adhesive thingy actually fit her, etc. all really clearly. I thought it was really helpful to see all of this, and most importantly, I thought her stoma was not gross at all!! (Sometimes, in the medical texts they give me, they just show the stoma and it looks kind of scary [sometimes they also look fake too, like they had a makeup artist make a little stoma just for the picture] but this ladies did not put me off at all, and I am hoping (since I am the same size about
as she is) that my stoma will look something like hers!
Most importantly, I had many of my fears of the unknown put to rest by seeing this video.
The video was downloaded from the Coloplast website. Go to:
http://www.us.coloplast.com/
-Click on "Ostomy Care" at the top.
-Scroll to the bottom and select "USA"
-Click on "People with Ostomies"
-Click on "Educational resources" on the side.
-Finally, click on "Patient Educational Video".
It is about
25 minutes long, and the part I am talking about
was ~13 minutes in.
If this helps you as it did me, I am happy!
Erin