Hi.
In preparation for what may be inevitable and of which I may actually, for reasons you will all understand, be most grateful for, I have been looking at various types of Urostomy bags.
I can already see that they do not hold enough liquid to match my daily input. I am someone who walks about with a 500ml bottle of water (I have a chronic cough) and can drink all of it in one go. For long walks, train or bus trips, I go through 2 bottles. I’ve actually been known to drink 4 bottles on an all day journey. Adjustments will definitely have to be made.
So that covered, I am now moving on to how will the Urostomy bag stay hidden under my clothes. Will the clothes I wear pre Urostomy have to be replaced. What are the best styles (petite female) to wear that will at best cover the Urostomy bag.
Any advice?
Mack, if you come to the situation of needing your bladder removed and having a urostomy, you will learn that urostomy bags need to be emptied regularly during the day, and none of us are carrying around full bags of urine, no matter how much we’re drinking!
Urostomy bags are not designed to hold huge amounts of urine as that would be extremely heavy for us to carry around attached to our tummies. You go to the loo to empty the bag, just like anyone with a bladder goes to the toilet themselves regularly throughout the day and it takes the same amount of time to empty the bag as it does to sit on the loo and have a wee. You can absolutely continue and indeed should continue, drink enough liquid in the day.
You will not need to replace your clothes with “special” clothes. You can wear anything you want, and I wear exactly what I did before, even though I also have a colostomy so have two bags. When the bag is empty it can’t be seen under clothes, and as it fills up, you go and empty it, so it continues not to be seen under your clothes.
You can’t anticipate in advance what kind of urostomy bag would be suitable for you-we are all different and there are many different types on the market so we learn what type suits us best. None of us can say what would be best for you as we are all individuals. Really, it’s way too early for you to be spending time worrying about something that might never happen for you.
Sarah xx
Yes, I understand the worrying about bladder cancer, of course-that’s completely natural, and all of us will have had periods of worry about our cancer at some point.
However, treatment for bladder cancer can be very successful and not everyone will need to have bladder removal. Research can have its place of course, but when you don’t know if you’ll be having a particular procedure then it might be best to focus on whatever treatment is actually being planned for you so as not to make yourself more anxious about something which might not be required.
Sometimes when you do research you come to the wrong conclusion-for example thinking that a urostomy bag needs to hold your full intake of liquid throughout the day. That’s just a little example of how our minds can assume something from research which is actually incorrect and has clearly worried you.
Sarah xx
I’m so sorry about that Mack. I would just rather that you were reading about people who have been dealing with urostomies for a long time and thought you would find it helpful to read real experiences, not just research or celebrities posting doom and gloom.
From your original post it looked like you were thinking you couldn’t have your normal fluid intake because the urostomy bag wouldn’t be able to hold it all. I hoped to reassure you that would never be the case, but I apologise if I’ve misunderstood you.
I hope you’ll change your mind about staying as you can get lots of help and support here and I’ll not reply to any more of your posts if that would be better for you.
I’m very sorry to have upset you, and wish you well going forward.
Sarah xx
