New to this

Hi . I’m tagging superfly as I’ve just seen him post on the other board that he had a stoma before starting treatment. Unfortunately I’m not sure how hairy he is (?) but I’m hoping he’ll be happy to share experiences and hopefully Ian aka will be long shortly with his wealth of knowledge. 

Although it might take a few days to get used to a stoma I’m sure the benefit of no longer suffering from regular leakage will be a relief for you

Take care

Karen x

Thank you Karen,

im just so blooming nervous about it all and I’m a complete wuss 

Hi . I had my stoma done during my op but it was the first time I’d ever been in hospital so I was pretty worried about the op but it wasn’t as bad as I feared. There is always plenty of pain relief available and the stoma nurses show you how to deal with the stoma. I don’t know how long the op would be just to have the stoma alone done. I can see that you’re a member of the anal cancer board but you could have a look/join the Bowel (Colon and rectum) Board too?

https://community.macmillan.org.uk/cancer_types/bowel-colon-rectum-cancer/f/bowel-colon-rectum-cancer-forum/194952/newly-diagnosed-and-mentally-struggling

Heres the link to the post that superfly and some of the other guys have replied to

Please keep posting - we’re always happy to share advice and experience

Karen x

Hi 

Sorry I am unable to give information on the timescale between having a stoma formed and the start of the chemo radiotherapy treatment as it will no doubt be based on how your bowels recover from the surgery.

Your stoma care nurse and chemo nurses will monitor your skin and give you advice on skin care and products to use.

Whether your stoma is permanent or temporary can mean that your quality of life will improve and you can get back to enjoying the activities you enjoy doing.

The curse of the Male the hairy body means that you will have shave the skin around the stoma to get a good adhesion of the pouch. You can either wet or dry shave as you prefer but you have to ensure that you don't nick the stoma in the process. If you opt for a wet shave covering the stoma with a empty toilet roll holder and shaving around it should eliminate the problem. I use a Phillip's one blade razor and it only takes seconds to trim away any hairs before applying my pouch. 

Hopefully we will see others pop in to share with your their experiences and put your mind at rest with regard to any other questions you may have and we really don't mind answering questions, please remember that there is no such thing as a stupid or silly question, except the one never asked if you have something on your mind, ask us one of us will have the answer for you and you can move on.

Any problems with your stoma please ask me and I'll do all I can to help you solve them but at this stage my first piece of advice is to keep an eye on the size of your stoma and make sure that the hole in the wafer is not too big or small. Chemo radiation can affect your stoma size and if the hole is the wrong size you could end up with leaks from around the wafer with the enzymes from your poo causing a breakdown in the skin which could result in your pouch not adhering.

Keep in touch and ask us anything we are very supportive towards each other and share our experiences quite openly and freely.

Ian

Sorry to hear about your diagnosis. 

Will yours be permanent or temporary? I had to have mine performed almost immediately from diagnosis because the tumour was so low down and I knew it was going to be permanent. I had the op in June 2019. The process of how to use the stoma was really very easy- thanks to the brilliant Stoma nurses , both locally and at the hospital.  I would expect you will need to shave the area around where the stoma is going to go in your tummy but your nurse will advise you about that. Its a bit weird at first but you soon get used to it and I can honestly say, 8 months on, it hasn't really been an issue for me.  I have had bigger fish to fry!  I started the chemo radiation treatment in late July 2019. I was disappointed it took so long - 6 weeks. I had 5 weeks of radiotherapy with chemo tablets. I found the whole process straightforward because the radiologists were so professional . I got some burns but nothing too bad as they give you cream and that does the trick -or it did in my case. . I was lucky that I didn't have any real side effects from either the chemo or radio. The chemo/radiation was to shrink the tumour prior to having an op to remove the tumour. Sadly, that didn’t work for me - which was unusual as apparently it works in 8 out of 10 cases- and I ended up having a more advanced operation which I am now recovering from- just in time for another programme of chemo- great! I'm hoping to get the all clear after that but we will have to wait and see. Good luck with everything. I know its feeling scary right now but stay positive if you can. Sean

Thank you for this, you have helped no end.  I’m very similar to you. My tumour is protruding from my bum and is making going to the loo difficult.  They want to do the stoma as soon as possible, might be temporary, but I feel it will be permanent as unlikely to regain full control after chemo radiotherapy.  I just hate hospitals and not Benin control and am a total wuss where pain is concerned.  I just want to be me again