Colostomy bag related questions (sugery upcoming)

For years I posted on the UC forum until such time my husband decided to have surgery. We got a lot of support and helpful advice while he was trying to attain a remission that was just not meant to be.

This forum is the same in that there are tons of threads with tons of advice and different accounts from different people.

What might be good at the moment is to take some time and go through some of the threads to get a sense of what to expect.

If you have an appt on the 31st for surgery be sure to wear your normal slacks, jeans, shorts or whatever so the ostomy nurse can mark you properly for the surgeon.

The hospital will outfit you with the supplies they use. You may find once you are home the supplies they give you are ok and maybe not. That is the initial "trial and error" period finding what works best for you.

Since your surgery is soon go online and research what you can about the process so when you wake up after surgery you already have an idea and familiarity with what to expect to make it easier on yourself.

Once you know if you need flat or convex wafers you can call the large companies..Hollister, Convatech, Coloplast and ask for some different samples to be sent to you so you can try different ones to see which you like best. In the beginning the stoma will be a bit swollen so the opening on the wafer you will need to cut a bit larger and over time it will shrink so you need to measure every time when you do a full change.

Verify that you will be seeing an Ostomy nurse before the surgery and she can give you some orientation. We found being prepared before it was much easier to follow and understand what she was explaining as we were not hearing it for the very first time.

Another UC wife said...
For years I posted on the UC forum until such time my husband decided to have surgery. We got a lot of support and helpful advice while he was trying to attain a remission that was just not meant to be.

This forum is the same in that there are tons of threads with tons of advice and different accounts from different people.

What might be good at the moment is to take some time and go through some of the threads to get a sense of what to expect.

If you have an appt on the 31st for surgery be sure to wear your normal slacks, jeans, shorts or whatever so the ostomy nurse can mark you properly for the surgeon.

The hospital will outfit you with the supplies they use. You may find once you are home the supplies they give you are ok and maybe not. That is the initial "trial and error" period finding what works best for you.

Since your surgery is soon go online and research what you can about the process so when you wake up after surgery you already have an idea and familiarity with what to expect to make it easier on yourself.

Once you know if you need flat or convex wafers you can call the large companies..Hollister, Convatech, Coloplast and ask for some different samples to be sent to you so you can try different ones to see which you like best. In the beginning the stoma will be a bit swollen so the opening on the wafer you will need to cut a bit larger and over time it will shrink so you need to measure every time when you do a full change.

Verify that you will be seeing an Ostomy nurse before the surgery and she can give you some orientation. We found being prepared before it was much easier to follow and understand what she was explaining as we were not hearing it for the very first time.

Thanks Ill try to go through a few pages of threads and learn. I visited the Convatech site earlier and have a better understanding of how pouches work now and the different types there are. I also printed Rons directions.

polishdan said...
wrxBRAH
Terminology....
If your colon is removed (colectomy) and your small intestine forms the stoma it is an ileostomy, not a colostomy.
If you retain your colon and it forms the ostomy it is a colostomy.


We will all be thinking of you on August 31.

Dan

Ah in that case its a temporary ileostomy. Im having the 2 step Jpouch. Thanks for the info =)

Welcome wrx. Others have mentioned good things about stoma placement and supplies. Regarding food, you need a lot of protein and calories after surgery (my surgeon said that the first 1000 calories went to wound healing). A lot of people find it good to supplement w/protein shakes. You'll want to start w/low residue mostly white food: crackers, bread, cheese, pasta, white fish, skinless chicken breast, eggs, bananas etc. After a bit, you can add more things.

It's also really important to stay hydrated. Of course, w/UC you colon isn't working all that well, but it does absorb some liquid. Your output will likely be pretty liquid at first.

Also, before you have food in you, your first output will be mostly bile -- it's green and slimy and very smelly. It won't stay that bad ... can be very scary at first. Your stoma will likely be a lot noisier at the beginning than later on.