The beginning of June '16, my intestines burst, and I had an emergency surgery with a power wash, as the doctor put it. I woke up with a colostomy and a wound vac for the long slice down my stomach. I am happy to be alive, and I made it to my daughter's high school graduation before this fiasco, so that keeps me grateful every day. But educated on this, I am not. They sent me home with the Hollister snap-on bag that has a wafer. I usually warm up the wafer a little with the hair dryer, and that makes it stick so I can leave the base on for a week and change the bag every couple of days. Since it snaps off, it's easy to clean or empty if not super pasty stuff. I have seen people write about liners and deodorant that I would be interested to learn more about. I see there are a lot of companies. I'm challenged with wearing pants because it's right at belly button height. I'm just trying to figure out what it's all about. The doctor said in 6-8 months they could do a reversal, but that it is a bigger operation than the first because of scar tissue, etc. I'm just focusing on healing from this wound. Anyway, I just wanted to say hi and thanks for all the posts and your honesty on such a subject!

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Hollister
Ostomy surgery is stressful both for the patient and the caregiver, and creates a major life change for both people in a relationship.
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Learn how to care for your loved one, while still taking care of yourself.
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Hollister
We conducted a survey to better understand the impact that living with an ostomy has on sleep.
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Learn the results of our ostomy sleep survey.