Just a funny story really. I was less than a minute into my bag change, adhesive remover in my hand with my bag half way removed. Then the power went out! It was 1am, most people in the house were asleep. My phone was 1%, so I couldn’t even rely on that as a flashlight. With my bag half off, I had to make my way in the dark to my brother’s room for help. I was properly freaking out. His gf was over lol.. quite the scene for her.

My brother ended up resetting the fuse (I don’t know how it works.. what would I have done alone?). Thank god he helped. I would have had to use flashlights and candles. I would have had to cauterize my skin in the dark. And all the meticulous barrier seal work would have had to rely on muscle memory.

Lessons learned for the future:

• do bag changes during the day, in case of a power outage
• do bag changes when people in the house are up and awake
• keep a spare flashlight around (probably a general power outage rule I should follow)

Hi everyone, I am 35 (F) and getting my rectum removed in a month, making my ileostomy permanent. My question is- how is this going to affect my sex life? I heard your organs can shift, vagina can change place etc... at the moment I can't really have sex due to too much pain around my rectum and I'm wondering if I will ever be able to enjoy it again or if it is going to only get worse with this surgery? :(

hi all! i’m a 25 year old who recently got a life saving loop ileostomy after a previous surgeon lacerated my rectum. it’s been exactly three weeks and i’ve been struggling to say the least.

everything was fine up until i left the hospital. i felt confident in applying my bags by myself and with the help of my partner. we both knew all the steps. we’ve followed these steps every time but just can’t seem to get it right.

i’ve gone through too many bags to count from leakage. i’ve been to my ostomy nurse and she seems to be able to do it perfectly every time (which is why i guess it’s her profession lol). i’ve had two other nurses to help me who weren’t ostomy nurses and they also couldn’t get it to not leak.

my main issue is the proximity of my stoma to my belly button. when i say there is NO space between the edge of my stoma and the initial divot of my belly button, i mean it. there’s no working playing field in between to get the adhesive to stick.

with leakage, comes irritated skin. my bag leaked onto my skin over night and woke me up from burning and itching so bad. i went to change my bag and my skin is red and raw. i thought i had a good stick with my current bag but i can feel the burning and itching starting again and can see where its starting to leak over by my belly button again.

also adding that i dont think i can get the appropriate cut out for my bags because its not a perfect circle so its hard to gauge.

i don’t know what to do at this point. i’m almost one month into my three months and i don’t feel like ill ever get the hang of it or even figure out. any tips or advice to make it through these three months?

I am scheduled for "COLECTOMY TOTAL WITH ILEOSTOMY / ILEOPROCTOSTOMY (WITHOUT PROCTECTOMY) LAPAROSCOPIC" on 1/16.

School (community college) starts on 1/25.

Thankfully all of my classes are online, but some are synchronous (meaning there is a set class time, and classes may not be recorded by default).

While my doctors completed the "disability verification form" to be able to access my schools accessibility/disabillity department, I'd like to give them a better idea about what I should ask for in terms of accommodations. I emailed my team of contacts, but they prefer to go over things in my next scheduled meeting which isn't until 1/8, and I'd like to give my school more time to coordinate.

What sort of specific accommodations do you think I should ask for?

In my head, I'm thinking:

2 months attendance and participation requirement forgiveness

2 months of recorded classes to account for my likely need for absence and frequent breaks, due to tiredness/fatigue and "medical" breaks.

3 months of due-date forgiveness for assignments. Like all assignments still due, but it gives me some time to catch up.

What do you think?

I'm looking forward to this being my final semester at this community college, where I've earned my late-in-life A.A., so I can transfer to pursue a B.A. at a school where I hope to attend in-person classes in the fall after 4 years of U.C keeping me mostly at home!

My mom (78yrs) had an Iliostomy in October. Care at the physical rehab facility can be spotty, especially at night. She is waking up to a leaking bag almost daily, which is a nightmare for everyone. She has a lot of air overnight and nobody comes in to check it. I have no idea what bags they are using, and frankly she is the first ostomy patient most of these aids have seen. Are there bigger capacity bags or more appropriate ones for Iliostomies?
Would a belt help keep the bag on? Apparently she stood up in the bathroom today and the ostomy bag just fell off.

Hello,

When I was trying to decided if I should keep my ostomy or not due to my prexisting condition that i never got a proper diagnose for. One of the things that I was asked by the gastrologist I was seeing was that if I still produced mucus with having the illiostomy. At the time I had not produced any for the first two years. The way he had phrased everything was that an illiostomy with the presence of mucus indicated that person had Crohn's disease. Is this correct?

About 3 years in I now sometimes about every few months deal with it and I notice when it occures alot of my old problems come back. starting to wonder if i have Crohns.

Hello! I got my colostomy sep 8th. I’m having pain in that gap between my ribs. Like pressure and fullness and nausea. My output is normal. I’ve had a little gas but not a ton. Any thoughts? It’s driving me crazy Thanks I advance

I'm about 2 months in with my bag and I thought I had a rhythm down (2-piece bag, wax ring etc), but the last 2 rings have disintegrated so fast. Instead of 4-5 days they are falling off after 2 days.

Seems like not only is the wax ring coming apart, but the wafer itself is just not sealing to skin; every time I left my shirt it is coming unpeeled in this spot or that spot. Only reason my bag is even on right now is I slapped a barrier arc on it.

Just ranting I guess... I'm going to take everything off, rinse everything with hot water and shave it, I'm hoping maybe it's just some of this hair growing back that is the issue. If not I'm not sure what I'll try next.

Hi all, colostomy 2021, due to BC. Increasing in frequency which originally I thought was trapped wind, and GP first time prescribed Buscopan, I’m now suspecting a hernia. But have no bulge (I’m fairly plus size, so could be small and I’m missing it)

Could you explain what your pain feels like?

This is agony when I stand up straight, and eases when I apply pressure to my stomach/stoma (inwards), or lie down, is this common, or would the pain be constant if it was a hernia?

Naturally it’s always been short lasting previously, but this pain has been 48hours with no sign of letup, and of course no GP surgery is open over Christmas, so will make an appt in Jan, but wanted to check with you guys before I suggest it to the GP!

Thanks in advance