Bag Lady

Today, I went down to Kennestone Hospital to meet with a stoma nurse to talk about the ileostomy and to ask any questions that I might have. I was sent to the wound treatment center, which is part of the hospital since they provide help to both inpatients and outpatients. I felt very awkward in the waiting room since I was by far the youngest person there...probably by 40 years or more. It seemed like there were a lot of people there for physical therapy of some sort... lots of canes, limps, and probably war stories (literally?).

When I finally got to speak with the nurse (aka, the "Bag Lady"), she was very encouraged that I had taken the time to come speak with them so early before surgery. She said that a lot of people who end up with an ostomy only have a few days to weeks to prepare, so I am well ahead of the game. 

Honestly, I've done a lot of research about the ileostomy and had a pretty good idea of what to expect as far as diet and what it is generally like to have one. Obviously, there is no way to know exactly what it will be like until it actually happens. However, there were a couple of things that I could not have known just by researching on the internet.

First, the bags themselves are much lighter and thinner than I realized. In pictures, they seem like they are made of fairly thick rubber or plastic, however they are much thinner; think very strong sandwich bag. The three bags she gave me were all different models. One was a two piece bag with a "tupperware"-like seal and the other two were one piece bags. All of the bags are drainable, which means that I can simply drain the waste into the toilet instead of having to change the bag every time it fills. Two of the "wafers" (where the bag attaches to the skin) were flat and one was concave. All of these options make using the bags easier for people with ostomies.

The second thing that surprised me was the sheer amount of supplies and options available for all the ostomy supplies. I was given 3 separate catalogs that each have hundreds of different options for the ostomy bags: shape, size, drainable, not-drainable, two piece, one piece, filters for gas, clear or opaque, concave or flat wafers, and many more options. After thinking about it, it makes sense that there are so many options. Many people have permanent ostomies and have to adapt their bags to their specific body type. Why not give them as many options as possible to limit complications from the bags.

Overall, the visit to see the Bag Lady was worth it. It definitely made me feel slightly more comfortable about having the ostomy bag for several months in between surgeries.