Ostomy Every Day Life

Time For an Attitude Check Up

Hello and thanks for stepping into my world for a couple of minutes.

My desire is to be able to help lift someone out of their despair, or anger, or whatever else you may be feeling about your ostomy.

Or on the positive side you could be very upbeat and excited about your continued trip that you are living now. From my experience my cancer and my ostomy were looked at as interruptions in what my plans were for my life.

What I still didn’t get was that, maybe I didn’t have any control over what I wanted, but that I needed to adjust and be grateful for everyday from here on out.

So with that said, I do believe that your view of where you are, will either be a good friend of yours or it could be your worst enemy. You Choose!

My Ostomy is Everyday

Just like with everything in life many, many things are or will become part of your everyday life.

Table of Contents

Since you were a child you have probably just added to the list. Until maybe you are on the backside of life.

As an example of this, while my wife and I were raising a family of the three kids, the biggest stretch was when the oldest was a senior in high school. The other two were following behind with their events.

That was I believe when we were most stretched out. How could you fit anything else in the schedule?

As we look at the totality of everything involved, all of the emotions, to the coverage of all kid related activities, to all of the family activities. Yep that was when we were maxed out.

I know boy were you busy, you wonder now how you kept up with all of it. Remarkable wasn’t it.

Now you have a whole new set of every day things to deal with.

What’s Involved in Your Ostomy Every Day

Here is my list of Top 5 Ostomy Every Days You Deal With

I must maintain the diet that I have discovered works best for me now that I have the ostomy
I must always be aware of my ostomy’s needs
I must always be prepared for the unexpected to happen
I never really have control-it’s(the ostomy’s) actions are involuntary
Never forget who the new you is

Reviewing My Top 5 Ostomy Every Day Experiences

First On My List
Maintaining the diet that you have figured out works best for you, may be difficult to stay with. You have spent a lifetime eating the foods you enjoy, and the diet you have now is a big habit for you. You may need to make changes in it.

Here is what I found after my surgery. Many foods I had eaten before, could cause me added problems now. I discovered that bowel movements were not the same as they had been.

Well when you think about it, how could they be, with so much having changed with your intestinal tract and body waste parts and disposal.

Baked Beans- source of gas — Stay away from these, they might cause large amounts of gases to actually blow up your pouch

What you will need to do is keep track of the foods that you believe are causing you some problems.

You will need to learn to eat other similar tasting foods that will not cause you digestive situations.

Once you do that, you are better served in your everydays with an ostomy not dealing with any sudden unexpected happenings with your ostomy.

Second On My List
You need to become intuitive to what your ostomy needs are today. What I mean by this is that today may be the day you need to change your equipment.

Possibly you may be getting sore or the skin may be itching excessively, all of which you will decide needs your attention now.

Some days your activities may cause some stress in your ostomy area. Things like extra physical activity may cause extra perspiration in the amount that you perspire above what you normally do. This could cause stress on the skin area of your ostomy.

Changing your equipment, cleaning everything up and starting fresh may be an answer for you. Prevention is always better, than putting the fire out.

Third On My List
Even though I don’t need to worry everyday about the third item on my list,

it is vital for you to be prepared. What I am talking about is being ready for situations that may come up for you.

The kind of things here that I am talking about are having an emergency bag ready and on your person when you leave the house.

You also need to have stock on hand of the supplies you will need in and around your house.

For more information on preparing an emergency bag for an ostomy owner, please go to our article, titled Preparing An Ostomy Emergency Travel Kit

The following or some form of these items are needed everyday by you. You don’t want to be up the proverbial creek without a paddle, without them.

These are a few of the items I am talking about.

skin cleansers-protectant skin preps
paper towels
toilet paper
air fresheners
a stock of your daily supplies (the equipment you may need to change out)

This will include your bags and your matching wafers. Remember it’s a two part system, have plenty of both items on hand.

Medline Wipe Protectant Skin Sureprep, 50 Count Bounty 92979 Basic Select-A-Size Paper Towels, 5 9/10 Cottonelle Ultra Toilet Paper, Bath Tissue, 12 Toilet Paper Rolls Febreze Air Refresher, Spring & Renewal 9.70 oz (Pack of 3)Febreze 9.7 Oz, Hawaiian Aloha, Air Refresher – Pack of 2 Febreze Air Refresher, Lavender 8.8 oz (Pk of 3)

Do not allow your supply to get too low. You may be delayed in getting your supplies when you order them.

It does happen. You order from your medical ostomy supply company and it ends up taking ten days to arrive at your home.

In fact the other day, I was down to only three sets left to be used. I was getting a bit uneasy, until my new supply arrived.

Fourth On My List
One of the first things I picked up on in the first month with my ostomy is that you can never really know when your internal intestinal system decides it is time to expel the body waste from your physical body.

You may hope and pray that when you go to a social function that you will not have to be going to the restroom every twenty minutes or so, but you really have no control over what your ostomy does and when it does it.

So prepare yourself mentally for having to excuse yourself to take care of it’s needs when it calls. Before the ostomy you sort of had control to a point, but now you do not.

You can change your eating but just be ready for it. It seems to have a mind of it’s own most of the time. Patterns and changing your eating, (when and amounts you are eating) that can influence some control but just do not totally count on it.

Fifth On My List
When I say never forget who the new you is, I am talking about your need to know what limits you have on your self now. There are many things that have changed for you.

Learn to live with them, and embrace them, prepare for them, but never forget there are new things about you.

As an example I have always been a stand up, and stretch person.

Since my childhood I get up after I have been sitting for an hour or two hours and it is natural for me to raise my arms and just get on my toes and breath deep and stretch everything.

But I can’t do that anymore, I will almost always experience severe cramping in the ostomy area of my lower abdomen.

It can be very painful and usually I need to lay down flat out on my bed for 20 minutes at least, before I am back to normal again.

Yikes, like I said you will have things that just aren’t the same just always remember daily, things are different now.

Treat Your Ostomy Great Every Day

The best thing for you to do is figure out these areas and if you do and remember the lessons learned, you will have a great every day life again.

However if you don’t you may have a troublesome time, and I promise you will have some days that will not go well for you.