Stoma

Hi kerry 

Your stoma is as unique to you as your finger print. They are all different shapes and sizes.  Iam 14 weeks post op and mine has mutated a number of times. It stated round at the bottom and then went to an oval shape where I now have to cut the bags oval shape. It will eventually settle into its final shape. If the stoma nurses are happy with it then there's no issues.  There will be a redness around the stitches but this will clear up to normal skin colour eventually. It's still healing.

Have you given your stoma a name?

Mines called Sidney

Best wishes

Mark

My work mates want to call it Steve, and it still gives me the ick , so have to get to know it better when it's healed , thanks for the info , will bare that in mind x

Kerry

You should have been designated a stoma nurse. My first nurse was a community stoma nurse and after two visits to her I was referred back to the hospital stoma people whom I visited last week. If you are concerned and for your own peace of mind ,give them a call and they'll advise you.

Best wishes 

Mark & Sidney 

Hi Podperson,

mine was flat too to begin with. When pressed to name it in hospital I plumped for Cherry since it looked like half a cherry tomato. Never use the name though. And my stoma was nothing like the one in the pack they gave us pre-op to get us used to the idea. That looked like the rubber bit at the end of a walking stuck though a pale pink colour!

They say there are 2 basic shapes - innies and outies (quoting my original stoma nurse) outies stick out and as they end up inside the bag there may be fewer leaks. Innies have to have a good seal around them or the urine slips down behind the flange (what a name) or wafer and that can make the bag leak. I use convex bags to guard against that and also used to use a ring inside the flange to ensure a better fit and stop the leaks.

My nurse also got me a thin elastic belt about an inch wide to attach to the bag using the plastic flaps either side of it and keep it tight against the skin. I once lost a lot of weight so don't have a flat stomach. She also said the pressure around the stoma should encourage it to come out a bit.

Anyway it has now begun to emerge a little so I stopped the rings and seem to have a better seal around the stoma.

No doubt over time other things may happen. Of course the hole in bags has gone down from 28 post-op to 22 after 6 months or so and stabilised there.

Good luck with it all.

Latestart

Thank you, its earlie days but great to hear everyone's story. It helps i have convex bags too and the seperate seal that goes round the outside, so far no leaks. I struggle with the night bag as the pipe is long and twists and can sometimes stop the flow so I'm thinking of cutting the pipe down . I sleep on my back now and don't move about much so should be OK 

Thanks for the info x 

Hi Podperson,

Am attached to my night bag as I write. I used to have bags with about 2 metres of wide gauge pipe but they stopped supplying them and now its thinner pipe about 4 feet long. That kinks less but  sometimes feels a bit short.

I sleep on my left side and don't ever move onto my other side though can lie on my back. The bag stand is on the left of the bed. Sometimes the duvet falls on it and knocks it over. My main problem, though rare, is that the bottom of the bag stuck to me twists and blocks the flow. That usually wakes me as the day bag becomes very full, and is easily fixed.

I have heard of people putting the stand at the bottom of the bed  which might keep the pipe straight. Or you could talk to your stoma nurse about changing to another make with a shorter  pipe. Cutting it yourself doesn't sound very easy and reattaching the end so it doesn't leak could be a problem. Plus you'd have to keep doing it.

I watched a Urostomy Association (UA) webinar last night about keeping kidneys healthy. I recommend everyone watches it.

The nurse said we should change night bags daily, especially if having frequent infections, otherwise wash with warm soapy water and let it dry and change every 5 days. I do 7 and so far have not got infections and while I  manage the water am not sure how to introduce the soap as the opening to the pipe is very small. I also learnt that you can get disposable 1 use night bags both with and without taps to empty them. More questions for the stoma nurse.

Letting the day bag get too full is not good as you don't want the urine to flow back inside you as that could flow up to the kidneys or just pool in the bit behind the stoma causing infection. Day bags have a mechanism to stop flow back but it only works up to about 2/3 full.

Hope this is useful. A bit of a brain dump after last night's session. It certainly gave me a lot to think about and there was more on diet etc. I'll probably rewatch it on the UA site.

All the best,

Latestart

Hi Podperson 

I’ve got 2 stomas and neither of them look like pictures on the internet! Mine do not protrude at all, and are flat..well, my urostomy is actually recessed so I use a convex bag to help with that. We are all unique, so try not to compare yourself with others-so long as the stoma works as it should and the medics are happy with it, that’s all that matters.

Sarah xx