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Posted 1/26/2013 5:37 PM (GMT 0)
I finally had my bag fall off at work. I am a bus driver and it was on the way to my first route of the morning. Well, It was too late at that time to do anything, so I just stuffed cloth diapers down around the stoma and drove the route. Thankfully, the output was odorless. HA

So, I drop the kids off at the school and head to my lay-over location, which is a grocery store where I wait until I start my next route. I head into the bathroom, go into the stall and clean myself up as best I could, and head out to the sink area. 2 other drivers were there with me which helped because I had never had this happen before and I was glad not to be alone.

People were in and out of the bathroom and I didn't even care. I figured it's a bathroom where people pee and poop anyway. I covered myself as best I could and changed as quickly as possible.

I still had to finish my morning up with wet pants though since I didn't have a change of clothes. UGH. But, no harm done. I now have a change of clothes on my bus in case this ever happens again.

So there's my story. My fear came true and it wasn't no where as bad as I thought it would be. :)
Posted 1/26/2013 8:53 PM (GMT 0)
I think it's always worse in our heads than in reality!!! I brought a set of clothes into work the other day and my admin assistant asked why I did that. So I explained everything to her and she was really supportive. Like she said, now I know what to expect and I know where your stuff is so I can help.....and I am not afraid to stand guard at the door and kick people out!!! God love her!!!

Glad you made out well and you had some good support!
Posted 1/26/2013 9:44 PM (GMT 0)
It is great to have people know our situation that can help if necessary. My worst situation was before ostomy with UC. I worked at Ford Motor and was as far as I could be from my desk when the unthinkable happened. I ducked into an empty conference room and called my supervisor on my cell phone. He got my keys from my desk and brought my vehicle to the closest door. Had to be the main entrance. With him being lookout I made it to my vehicle and home.

Dan
Posted 1/27/2013 1:27 PM (GMT 0)
Answers,

You handled that extremely well! That was my biggest fear too, before surgery and just after, because i started a new job and had this nightmare that a leak would happen while I was standing in front of people and talking, and of course in this fantasy I am wearing a white blouse and a big wet-brown stain would appear and grow larger, and larger, and I wouldn't notice until later but everyone there would notice and not say anything......

Of course that never happened, and nothing I was afraid of happened, and the worst part of having a stoma was, very simply, being afraid of something happening.

The most important thing is to manage somehow until you can change the bag, and until then, get on with things and work as best you can.

That's great, the way you took care of it, and it's also great that you took comfort in there being people around, even if they had no idea and couldn't help.

I had long commutes to work on the train and a couple of times I got a leak. I either got off the train if there would be a cafe with bathroom right there, or got off the train and did the change in the bathroom of the main station, or just did it as soon as I got to work. I was very happy when I realized I wasn't getting emotional about it and just took it in stride as a practical matter I had to deal with every once in a while.


Post Edited (B'Dereh) : 1/27/2013 6:30:02 AM (GMT-7)

Posted 1/27/2013 8:28 PM (GMT 0)
     How in the world did your bag "fall off"?  LOL!  Is it a two piece and the bag part fell off or the one piece just not sticking well enough to your skin? 

     Now, I have had two bags break on me, both Hollister.  Ever since changing over to Coloplast Sensura one piece...no problemo.

Posted 1/27/2013 9:12 PM (GMT 0)
Tracy, You did great. Be soooo glad the stoma is working. I am severely malnourished at this point due to not being able to eat and no TPN. I was telling a friend that others in the hospital have TPN after only a week or so of no food. I have been let go 2 months! Sure hoping appt this week gets me what I need and that it goes OK. I have no clue how I could be left with a non-working stoma! I long for the good old days with a working stoma so I could eat.

You handled this just beautifully. esoR
Posted 1/28/2013 12:09 AM (GMT 0)
When I used the bags with the clips, the clip fell off two different times at work (when I worked) it was really embarrassing lol, now I use the bags with the Velcro closure.
Posted 1/28/2013 1:48 AM (GMT 0)
Haha, a nurse was showing me how to use a Hollister clip in the hospital when it literally came apart in her hands. After that I asked for velcro bags!
Posted 1/28/2013 3:01 AM (GMT 0)
The hospital started me with Hollister pouch and clip. After I changed to Convatec I continued to use the Hollister clip because the Convatec clip is so hard to open. After the Hollister opened I thought "how stupid can I be, I want a clip that is hard to open, not easy". Convatec clip has never failed. Actually the Convatec is hard to open the first time. When it is on a pouch it is a little easier to open, but still pretty tough.

Dan
Posted 1/28/2013 3:44 AM (GMT 0)
B'Dereh, you said it perfectly, "...the worst part of having a stoma was, very simply, being afraid of something happening."

I completely agree, it is all about thinking of it as a practical situation. Keeping your emotions at bay are so difficult at first!

The first and only time I had something happen was actually my second night in the hospital right after my surgery. And it was caused by the nurse!

I still had the bag they put on at the end of surgery, so I'm not sure exactly the brand of the bag but it was not a bag given to consumers but instead to hospitals. The bag was a clip closure but that doesn't matter. The system was a two piece.

As it was still right after surgery, I was still very wary about looking at the bag and dealing with it. There was also still some blood in my output. I asked the nurse to look and see if it needed to be emptied, so she had me turn to my right side. She looks at the bag and says, "Huh, I've never seen one like this before..." Moments later she mistakenly pulls the bag right off, bloody output goes everywhere. I moaned. I was completely covered. It was in my butt crack, all over the sheets, uhhhhh. She was to so frazzled, saying the bag wasn't on right, almost in tears. I ended up taking care of the cleaning up and remaking the bed myself. Needless to say, I was assigned a new nurse immediately.
Posted 1/28/2013 2:29 PM (GMT 0)
RiddleMeThis, that made me laugh! I bet it was not very funny at the time though, I can just imagine it:

Nurse: "Oh, well this doesn't look right" *pulls bag off* "OMG, that wasn't supposed to happen!" *runs off crying*
You: "Um, ok then"

LOL
Posted 1/28/2013 4:01 PM (GMT 0)
You certainly handled it very well. That is a fear I am sure but if you can not obsess over it and just deal with it IF AND WHEN it happens like someone stated.

For my husband he finds peace of mind with a one piece now versus a two piece...prefers the roll up velcro closure instead of the clips and feels the ostomy underwear with the extra panel for support of the pouch helps him out. He empties more often than needed since he pees quite a bit and while he is there he just takes the extra time to empty thereby have a pouch with not a lot of stuff in there to add weight to the wafer's adherance.
Now of course when you have the demands of an occupation where a rest room is not readily available that poses a different challenge for sure.
Posted 1/29/2013 1:35 AM (GMT 0)
What actually happened was my output pushed its way up under the wafer and it let loose. I wear a convatec Moldable wafer and have never had this happen. The only thing I did different was I started adding coconut oil to my morning coffee, which in turn had caused some watery output, which we are thinking caused an oily type output that compromised the wafer. This is just a theory though. I have not been brave enough to try the coconut oil again. I was consuming this for some good fats in my diet since I'm on a diet now. Has anybody else had issues with coconut oil?
Posted 1/31/2013 3:52 AM (GMT 0)
@PLuot - LOL!

@Answers4me - I have to ask the same question..how did the bag fall off????? HOw long had it been worn?
Posted 1/31/2013 4:17 PM (GMT 0)
Hubby also wears the 1" ostomy belt and has since the beginning and doesn't mind it. Also the extra panel in the underwear the pouch would fall into. There would be a mess no matter what but it would be somewhat self-contained.

(For my husband..... once about a month or so after surgery had a full blowout 3-4 hours after eating a chinese food dinner. Fortunately we were home but it sounds very much like what happened to you and how it undermined the wafer and caused it to come away from the skin and make a mess inside the briefs and start to stain his pants. Conveniently he could jump right in the shower and tend to it. Getting a new wafer on was a huge challenge as it kept pumping out and we didn't know about marshmallows to eat to try to slow it down. He and I were frantic that night trying to get a new wafer on clean dry skin. Not funny at the time for sure....we laughed about it afterwards and how we were freaking out and all the swears coming out of the 2 of us...lol.)
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