Hello all! I am a new member to this site but have been reading posts for several months now. When I read Florrie's post, I just had to get in here and start participating.
I had my one-year anniversary of my ileostomy on March 8th. I almost made it to the one-year mark without a nighttime mishap.....almost. On March 3rd, I woke up to the alarm at 4:30 a.m. I couldn't quite understand why my whole right side of my jammies were wet and sticky. My output had been a little more liquidy than usual for the past week or so. As I'm standing in the bathroom looking in the mirror, I finally realize that my bag had come off and I had "output" literally dropping to my bathroom floor (like cow piles!). I keep puppy pads on hand for when I change my bag. I began grabbing those and throwing them on the bathroom floor, layer upon layer upon layer (you get the idea) as I'm still standing there trying to figure out what to do and that output is really putting out. It's not that I didn't know this would eventually happen, but I wasn't quite awake and hadn't really thought through how I would handle it when this accident did happen. I'm sure if there had been a video camera on me, it would have been hilarious to watch. My brain finally kicked in, and I grabbed a trash bag, stepped into the shower, stripped down, and threw everything in the trash bag. I got cleaned up and put a new bag on. I don't know how long I stood there trying to figure out what to do, but it was now 6:00 a.m. Then I had to start cleaning up everything else besides me: the bathroom floor, sink counter, cabinets, shower, etc. Of course, all the bedding had to be washed, and I had to throw away a pillow. I don't care what they say, you can't wash pillows - they just don't come out the same. Thank God for waterproof mattress pads or I would have been out buying a new bed that day.
I can laugh at it now. I'm sure it was a sight to see. Hopefully, I will be better prepared for the next time (and I'm sure there will be a next time) and not stand there looking at my silly self in the mirror trying to figure out what to do.
Thank you, Florrie, for sharing your story and letting me know I wasn't the only one experiencing an accident that week.
I know this website will be of great help to me, and hopefully, I will be able to help others as well.