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Ileal conduit people, heres a tip when changing your bag
Getting the right bag is the ultimate goal for people with this deversion.
After many tries Genes choice is the flat hollister with a convex ring. The visiting nurse and Gene retreat to our master bath every 5 days for the changing of the bag. My make-up mirror sits on the counter top, he uses it at the 5x strength, stands and can see everything to get it situated properly without wrinkles, with a nice tight fit around the stoma. At 5 weeks out of surgery alot of the belly skin is smoothing down , wrinkles from the stitches disappearing, which makes for a better fit. So don’t make your decision on your bag permanently until you have seen some of these changes occur. The nurse discharged him today, he is on his own, and if he can’t change it, I have done it 3 times myself. We have had great support from the Cleveland Clinic’s stoma nurses, they are a great bunch!!!Ginger -
12 Replies
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Rick,
I think its great you like to see the stuff in your bag. I told Gene goldfish would be good…anyway going to give going away for 2 days a try and hope we don’t spring a leak all over the slot machine. Ginger -
My pouch is a Hollister 14603.
It has a thin skin barrier with a floating flange. It is only 2 1/4 inches in diameter. It is not a pre-cut. My stormo isn’t completely round so my wife cuts the inner circle to my stormo shape.
I use the 18403 bag. It has a nearly clear front. I like to see my urine and all the mucus floating around.I was surprised that the thin wafer last longer then the thicker ones for me. I asked my doctor about bacteria, and he didn’t think it was a problem. My stormo sticks out about 1½ inches from my stomach. He said this helps prevent nearly all complications with stormo.
Take Care
“The Bagman from Washington”
Rick -
Anna,
Good for you, I am sorry to hear Florida is short on stoma nurses, they are a great bunch up here at the Cleveland Clinic, we also have tried the one you have, keep trying til you get it right, and make dad a happy camper.. guess I found my true calling “advice on ostomy bags,”,,hey, it all helps, Ginger -
Ginger, thanks for starting this convesation. I should of asked couple weeks ago when we started having problems with the bag.
Thank you all – Gean, Rick and harleygirl :) You advice and experience will help us a lot. Yesterday we saw the ostomy nurce and my Dad got a new type of flange – Moldable Convex Skin Barrier. It’s made my Convatec. I followed Rick’s advice and called Hollister and Convatec today and asked for samples. Will experiement. My Dad is using Eakin, but I learned yesterday that the more is not better. The nurse told us to use thinner pieces. Is this true? We shall see how long this will last.
I confirmed that in Florida they send a home health nurse to the patient, not the ostomy nurse. There is not enough stoma nurses in Florida… Thanks so much. -
I am glad I started this discussion, everyones comments will help someone I am sure.
There are so many variables when it comes to bags , types, barrier rings etc. All tips help so thanks for replying. Ginger -
My Dad also has a depression (crease) below the stoma area. He uses these wonderful things called Eakin seals. There is an identical product called Adapt Barrier Rings (I think that’s the name). This product is stretched and placed inside the ring on the wafer and fills in any places where the wafer might not make good contact with the skin. It reminds me of what caulk does for a home. He is 6 months post-op and so far, knock on wood, has had only one leak.
He changes every four days to prevent leaks and to also prevent bacteria buildup. This works well for him. My Mom does the changing for him as his stoma is in a hard-to-see place for him and he still has a stent from the left kidney protruding from the stoma. I am diligently trying to talk him into doing the change himself. He changed everything a few times in the hospital with the ET nurse supervising.
He also wears a belt to help keep the weight off the bag. This gives him an extra sense of security. He is wearing pre-cut Hollister New Image two-piece system.
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Hi Anna in Fl
Sorry, I didn’t see your post before. Ask the doctor tomorrow where the local ET nurse is. I am in CT. and live in a very rural area but we fortunately have an ET nurse who is affiliated with the visiting nurses assocation and she comes right to the house. She came a couple of times a week for a month. She was wonderful. There is a real shortage of ET nurses in the country. A lot of people on the United Ostomy Board are from Florida and maybe if you posted a question there someone from your area could help you. Just go to UOAA.org.
Hope your Dad does well.
Jean -
Jean, It seems my husband may have a problem if he is doing things that stretch his skin, like say bending over, but mostly his bag stays for 5-6 days, no problem.
Sometimes the area that opens up may not have been dry when he put the bag on. He does not hook up at night, he gets up twice to empty as that way he can roll over etc. Ginger -
I have had continuing problems with leaking. I will go along fine for a while and then I run into problems. It seems to be when I am the most active.
I go on the UOAA discussion board which is very helpful and over and over have been told to change every three days because after 72 hours the bag and wafer build up bacteria which is the cause of UTI’s. I have never had one on for more than 4 days anyway and have had a lot of people say they change every 6 or 7 days so it really confuses me. Most everyone says hook up to night drainage and even though I don’t like it I do it most of the time.
I now alternate between a convatec convex two piece and a cymed which is so awesome because there is very little wafer and what is around it is thinner than saran wrap and somehow does not require convexity. It’s very comfortable but not easy to hook up to a night drain so there are advantages and disadvantages to both.
Jean -
Rick,
Everyone talks alot about neo’s, Indians pouches, but theres another group, “THE BAG PEOPLE”, and yes its a struggle finding the right one, but with a good stoma nurse and in our case the visiting stoma nurse we to succeeded in the final choice.When we leave to go out the last thing I say to Gene is “DO YOU HAVE YOUR BAG” just a little humor. We keep a supply of changing materials in each car, he has this fear of springing a leak. So we are well equipped for all possibilities.
Ginger -
Thanks Ginger for your post. The bag is so important to the quality of life.
Anna,
It took me several (eight or so) attempts at different sizes, shapes and convex to find the perfect one for me.
I suggest you call Hollister or other makers of the pouches to get samples. We called and had at least ten different types of pouches sent to us. They sent me three of each type for free. We were able to find one that did not leak and lasted a long time.
I now change only on Sundays. I haven’t had a leak for months.
When I change mine, because of the shape of my stomach, I have to lie down. I am able to stretch the pad in all directions and I know the pouch has no wrinkles. It is important that I have a completely dry belly too. My wife is the expert of the pouches now. She has the shape of my stormo down pat (kind of egg shape around its base). She cuts the inner circle of the pouch perfectly so that it has a nice fit around the stormo.
I didn’t have any visiting nurses come to my house. My stormo nurse from my surgery was the one suggesting me going with samples. She helped me to narrow the types to the one that would have the best results. Ironically the one pouch that lasted the shortest time was the one the stormo nurse put on me during my first post-ops doctor’s visit. It lasted a total of 2 hours.It was frustating when I was trying to find the right bag with all the leaking I had. Once I found “My Bag”, my quality of life was great.
Good luck to your dad.
Rick
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Ginger:
My Dad is struggling with his bag which makes him very uncomfortable. It’s also very stressfull for me because I have to change it every 2-3 days because it starts leaking. Maybe in Florida they do things differently, but the ostomy nurse evaluated his stoma and showed us how to do it only once while he was in the hospital, then we had a nurse from the home health agency coming in to change it. She was RN, but not the ostomy nurse. She changed his bag on friday and 2 days later it started leaking, It was late at night, so I had no choice but to do it myself… I have to do it every 2-3 days because it does not last longer. He has so-called depression on one side of the stoma close to the incisiond and it causing a problem. Tomorrow we are going to see the Ostomy Nurse for post-op stoma evaluation and hoping she will be able to help him with the right equipment. Are you saying that Gene had the ostomy nurse coming in to your house? In Florida we have to go to see them in the hospital 4-6 weeks after the surgery… Maybe I am just missing something… Please let me know how to find an experienced and knowledgeble stoma nurse. My Dad has been great and we are very pleased with his progress, just need to find the right bag and then hopefully he will start doing it on his own. Thanks. Take Care.
– anna
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