Hi Champ! Glad you are through with this step!
Reading everyone's take on Step 2 of 3, when I think that I had Step 1 and Step 2 together, I keep feeling like, Aha! So it really was not weird that I hurt so much post-op!
For bending over, I still have a "grabber" (claw on long stick) and during those post-op weeks it helped me get things off the floor. Also from post-hip days, I put my shower soap into an old stocking and tied it to the shower knob for when I dropped the soap.
So I have had a loop for almost 4 months. (That was not the original plan, but I am not having reversal until after Chemo is done.) It was a bear at first, lots of leaks. I began to get creative with Eakin rings, adding little cut-off bits and pasting those where leaks happened, putting paste adhesive on the wafer to add extra stick and fill in gaps....and the stoma area healed and got easier to deal with. So, it WILL get easier.
My output is pretty loose. Applesauce is the one thing that really thickens mine. I am taking 3-4 Immodium a day and they help some, but not as much as the applesauce. (Peanut butter doesn't seem to do anything for me, though others recommend it.)
I CHEW everything, and eat very little salad. Have not yet had corn. Have only recently started eating beans, peas, (things with husks) and last night I had a tablespoon of coleslaw - diced to begin with, then chewed forever.
I, too, have a full bag an hour after finishing eating. And then again an hour later. Although I wear one of those wrap things with the inner pocket to support the bag, I learned that the whole thing is delicate, and emptying it sooner than later meant less stress on the wafer, and less leaks.
Hope that sermon helped.....
