Lay, Sit or Stand - ???

 

  What position do you use to change your appliance?  (I refer to it as "taking care of business" around my hubby so that if we are out in public or even around family/friends, it is a code for what I need to take care of and no one else needs to know!)

 

  From one of the other threads, I saw that Amey "takes care of business", laying on a towel on the bathroom floor.  I also saw another post there from Summerstorm that confirmed that position as well.  I'm curious - why lay down vs. standing up???

 

  I stand up at the bathroom vanity - if I have any stoma activity, clean-up is a breeze with clorox at the sink when all is said and done.  I was trained to use the standing position if at all possible when changing my appliance, but that was many years ago.

 

  So, everyone, please enlighten me and share your "positions"!!!!

I usually take off my wafer, then step into the shower. Once I'm out of the shower, I put a tissue over my stoma so it doesn't make a mess on the floor then put an Eakin Seal on then my one piece bag while I'm standing. I don't have room for a chair in my bathroom anyway, so don't have a choice lol (in Australia, our toilets are usually in a separate room to the bathroom unless it's an ensuite bathroom). I find the skin stretches out better if I'm standing anyway than when I'm sitting allowing a smoother surface to put my wafer on.

I stand up too. I was taught to do it laying down but I like to be right up to my sink in case anything happens. The second time I saw my ET nurse for a follow up, she took it off while I was laying down, and yep. That's when Janet decided to "blow".

I cannot imagine standing up and trying to lean over my sink. I pre-cut my wafer, lay out all of my supplies on my floor, get an old towel, and then lay on the bathroom floor. When I tried to stand up once, everything ran down my leg. I kept trying to apply the powder and spray but it was hard to focus on the application while poop was running between my toes. Then when I put the powder on, it fell onto the floor. So, I decided laying down was easier. This way, if my stoma decides to become "happy", the goods get on the towel. Then I wash and bleach the towel and fold it up and tuck it out of site.

Slice ---

Now, THAT'S  Talent !!!!

I can also juggle.

Key to winning the computer battle. Take the one not working well
and THROW it out the window.

For my next trick............i will change my bag outside in public. Oooooo yaaaaaaa

Does sound bad. But then i remember the amount of times i had to poop somewhere in public.
Heck, what could be worse?

Ha ha Did what i had to do. Ooooooooooooo spoooooky

Slice...I've almost had to change behind a tree! I was at my kid's homeschool geography class when my bag went POP! The geography class is held at a public recreational center and the bathroom doors were locked. I had tight jeans on and things were quickly going bad for me. My jeans were filling up and I had no place to go. I ran to the back of my SUV and grabbed my little black bag. I began getting my appliances ready in the back of the vehicle..cutting wafer, getting bag, wipes, adhesive remover..yada, yada, yada. Then I locked up the car and started looking for a place to make the "swtich." While walked around the public park, I found someone who worked at the facility and offered to open up the bathroom for me. PHEW! I told the guy I had just had abdominal surgery and I needed to change my dressing. I tell ya, I was 5 minutes from squatting behind a large oak tree in the woods.

LOL, Amey, your stories are hilarious! You've had more public emergencies with an ostomy than I ever had with Crohn's! You need to write a comedy book about your experiences!

I've had plenty of "public emergencies", but only a couple with the ostomy. I won't even mention some of the places i had to use before i had the operation. I won't mention it in case someone on here was the person to " discover" one of those places. Oh man that sounds so bad yet so funny.

In the hospital they did it while I was laying in bed, when I tried I could not see what i was doing, so I have to say that I'm a "Stander". Now at home, I'll get all my "needed" stuff put on the sink, and lay a long enough piece of TIN FOIL on the floor. Then when all is cleaned up (I use 4x4 gauze pads to clean stoma area) it all gets wrapped up (in the foil) and put into the garbage.