I live in Port Augusta, South Australia, and at the moment the whole of Australia is suffering from extremely high temperatures. Heat kills more people than road accidents, I am told. I am close to my 81st birthday and have had an ileostomy for over 20 years. I was told at the start to keep out of the sun, especially in heat waves. I have always taken this advice very seriously and make sure to always drink plenty of water. We have had a week of over 40 degrees, and one day was 49 degrees Celsius, which is 129.2 on the Fahrenheit scale. We are fortunate to have air conditioning, as do most homes in South Australia, but even with this, you have to be careful to drink a lot more water than you normally would. Heat affects the mind, I am sure, so I use a foggy head to indicate that I need to possibly drink more or take steps to get cooler somehow. My output is very liquid, but in my case, that is OK. While the Northern Hemisphere shivers, we sweat, so it may seem strange to you up yonder that we down under suffer from this problem. To all you fellow Aussies, I can only say, "Hang in there and drink, drink, drink"—not alcohol, of course, because they tell me that can be very dehydrating.
Hello ileona12,
Sorry the heat is so bad. I have an ostomy and I used to use the barrier rings, but found when the weather gets hot they started to melt, causing a leak. They seem to be wax-like and I sweat a lot.
I hope the heat wave goes away soon for you. Stay by the air conditioning; it seems you're doing all the right things.
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Hi Deb,
As you can see, the outpouring of love and support from this website will help you to find the strength to lift yourself up and out of your current emotional situation. I am lucky to have my husband by my side through all of this, so I will not even pretend to know how you feel and what you're going through alone. I do know that I have great friends on this site and in my life that have been by my side, and hopefully you have many by your side as well. You do have a lot of new friends here. Please feel free to talk through anything that is on your mind. We all go through a confidence deficit when we go through an ostomy surgery. Our body has been marred and your mind feels that way sometimes too. It is tough to move on, but you will. You will be stronger once you realize that you are still the beautiful woman you were prior to your surgery. Hopefully, you can reach out to a local support group and find some additional friends in your same situation. It always helps to have a sounding board wherever you find it!
Puppyluv
G'day ileona,
Drinks like Gatorade, Lucozade and Gastrolyte are also good to drink in the heat in addition to plenty of water, replenishing the electrolytes lost on those stinking hot days.
Even though I'm down here in the relatively milder climes of Mount Gambier now, I used to live in Perth so can definitely relate to the scorching Australian summers, but jeez 49C is really pushing the limits hey!
Thank God for air-con and fingers crossed for no power outages this summer!
Cheers,
Jo
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Hi leona12, that is some high heat and I for one can't take a lot of heat. I pretty much stay inside also and only go out to church and the grocery store. Just continue drinking a lot of fluids and stay in as much as possible. Hope you get a break from the heat soon.
Hello Ileona12.
I can certainly sympathise with all you Ausies who can't take the heat. I start to wilt when it get over 25 degrees, so it would not do for me at all. We are getting daily news reports about the fires and the heat in Australia and, apart from seeming a terrible situation to be in, it raises even more questions about what (all) governments are doing about climate change issues.
Best wishes
Bill
My Ostomy Journey: Jearlean | Hollister
Yes Bill, you make a good point about governments and their global warming strategies.
I am not a complete climate change sceptic but I have to say bushfires and droughts have been happening in Australia forever. Long before the Europeans arrived.
These early settlers came here by ship, not Boeing jets burning up countless litres of fuel and pumping God knows what into the air. (How does Greta Thunberg get to all her “appointments”?)
Much of this Great Southern Land is desert hence our tiny population...25m.
Yes there must be a reason why the ice is melting and I can tell you winters In Oz don’t seem to be as “frosty” as they were when I was growing up. Who remembers crunchy lawns?
The situation in this country, and many others, is the “green” movement is gaining popularity and governments need their vote to stay in power.
So to appease the greens they do things like ban cattle grazing in the high country which means under growth is out of control thus causing a higher and more dangerous fire risk.
Also they let people build houses near forests surrounded by trees, on one way roads. They also don’t demand that fuel loads be reduced…grass cutting etc….like they used to, so when a fire does come it takes hold quickly because it has plenty of “encouragement”.
In February 2009, in Victoria, after a 10 year drought, 173 people lost their lives in catastrophic bushfires in an area I know very well, part of the Great Dividing Range which is just about all forest (bush). Yes climate change could have been a factor but where these people chose to live was more of a contributing reason.
A long way off the original topic I know, but there is an old saying here……"if you live in the trees remember they burn”.
On that cheery note….to all the 20,300+ members on this site….Happy New Year!
V.J.
I feel so bad for you, Ileoana12... The heat is exhausting at the best of times, but with an ostomy, it's horrendous. I can't handle the hot summers we have been getting in Canada, so I can't even imagine what it must be like for you. The fires you are getting are so awful and just keep getting worse, and the poor wildlife has suffered so much too. You will need to drink lots of water and Gatorade to help with your electrolytes. Take care.
Ange