Colostomy planned next week

Hi and welcome to the online community and I am sorry to hear that you need to have a Colostomy but I am glad that you've found your way to us and hope we can to be of help to you. We in this group are all very friendly and supportive towards each other and will do all we can to help you along this new journey you're about to start.

Going into hospital

It's all down to personal choice what you pack to take into hospital but the usual items such as wash bag and toiletries would be a start, maybe forget the best nightwear for the first few days after the operation, accidents do happen and can ruin clothing just take anything you think you'll need to make you feel comfortable including the mobile phone and not forgetting the charger, something to read in fact anything you would normally take for a hospital stay and maybe allow for about a week. Any medication you take which is prescribed.

Preparing for the operation

Keep yourself warm and away from people with colds until you go in.

After the operation

You will be looked after by a team of specialist stoma care nurses who will guide you through the intricacies of emptying your bag and changing a new one but don't worry too much if they're not about the ward nurses are usually quite good at helping you. You will be given all you need to look after your stoma pouches, wipes, Disposable bags, adhesive removers and any other items your stoma nurse thinks you'll need and they'll keep topping up your supplies as you need them.

Going home.

You will be given a supply of the items you need to take home to last you a few days and the stoma care nurse will arrange for a larger supply to last a month to be delivered to your home or wherever you go after leaving hospital. These items will come from a dispensing appliance contractor who will be the company responsible for sending your monthly supplies and the stoma care nurse will tell you about the ordering procedure which varies between hospitals and areas. The important thing to remember is that you can't afford to run out of supplies and you should be thinking about ordering 2 weeks after you leave hospital but again not to worry if things go wrong a quick call to your stoma care nurse will put things right for you. Your stoma care nurse is going to be your new best friend from now on.

We are always here for you and we are available 7 days a week and you can ask us anything and would ask you to remember that there is no such thing as a daft question only the one never asked, if you're thinking it ask it I can guarantee you that one of us will have had the same question in the past.

If you care to open the following up by clicking on the green text it may give you some more answers

HOW WILL I COPE WITH A STOMA

LIVING WITH A COLOSTOMY

We have a few wheelchair dependent members who should be able to answer any questions about how they coped with their colostomy.

I hope that this helps a little but if you have any questions that you want to ask come back and see us and we'll do all we can to help,  support and advise you, please don't be afraid to ask anything we've either got one or had one and will share everything with you.

I'm Ian and I'm here to support you through this.

Ian