My First Ostomy Bag Mishap and Lessons Learned

Hi all -- now I feel initiated
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-- had my first mess/leakage!

Can't truly call it leakage ... more "operator error". Here's what happened.

Woke up about 4:30 am. Didn't have to pee, so just lay there and touched my bag to see how full it was. I could feel a lot of gas. So .... not turning on the side lamp, still in the dark under the covers, I did the burp the bag thing.

Ok -- it didn't register that there may be stools right there over the stoma because I've been lying like that for a while and maybe the stool hasn't had a chance to get into the bag part (my stools are fairly thick).

Along with the gas came some stool. Felt wet. My soiled hand comes away from the bag and touches the sheets. Getting out of bed, I get other parts of the sheets dirty.

Changed my appliance and went back and wiped off the sheets (actually not as much on them as on me). Will do till a sheet change tomorrow. Would have done it right away, but dear Hubby sleeps like the dead.

I know this leakage story is pretty tame but it just made me shake my head at myself ... not looking forward to my first leakage when I'm out of the house!

Anyone else want to share their 'first leakage' story?

I wish I could say congratulations, but that would be just plain mean. But I'll bet it won't happen again, at least until you forget and then you are truly initiated. After six years, I now feel confident, but not until I had a few messes to clean up. Stay positive and healthy. Ed

PS: Love that dog, only wish I were able to look after one the way they deserve.

Oh Beatrice - isn't it just a joy? You surely are now one of the gang...
Not my first, but I think my most awful one was while at a staff conference (Kempton Park Racecourse, quite posh) when I was still working. I had just had the main course at lunch and had stood up to go and queue for the lovely looking desserts they had when I 'sniffed' something... looked down and spreading across my pale pink top was... well, you can guess! The problem is, I have found that when I start leaking, there is no alternative but to just go home and deal with it; if I start peeling layers off, (and I always wear trousers) it just seems to get worse and I get more covered... so it was a case of getting my coat, holding it in front of me, making my apologies to my boss, and getting in the car. The only thing was, Kempton Park was an hour and a half away from home, so off down the M3 I went at great speed (thinking of what I could say if I got stopped by the police)! By the time I got partway home, ugh was just everywhere, including running down the side of me on my car seat, so I stopped and rummaged about the car and ended up sitting on a carrier bag to try to contain some of it! Made it home in record time and dealt with it... It has fallen off in restaurants, while shopping, dog walking, and many times during the night - I always sleep on a towel now to minimize things in case it does. I've thrown out 3 duvets and had to have some major dry cleaning of my very large and heavy bedspread...

Quite often I can feel if I am about to leak as I can feel it 'creeping' through the flange and it sort of itches, but nowadays it seems to be the seal between the ring and the bag itself which gives way first. Ho hum...

Beatrice: Forgive me for butting in (pun intended).

Rachel: I just gotta know, have you ever gotten an answer to that problem with the ring seal coming apart? The only thing that makes sense to me would be a flaw in production. ED

My worst leakage was when I was driving interstate. I had gone to bed in the sleeper of the truck and stupidly had been eating sugar-free lollies all day. Those nasty little bastards give you gas and the squirts real quick. Anyway, I had slept for about 6 hours and woke with what I call a zeppo. Zeppelin-shaped bag solid with gas and liquid and as I went to get up, it popped open. Shit and shrapnel went everywhere and I was covered in it. So I got out of the truck with my wipes and 2 water bottles and stripped my clothes off. I was washing myself down when a highway patrol car pulled into the parking bay. He saw me, pulled up behind me, and asked me why the f*** I was naked. I showed him my bag and the nice copper got paper towels out of his car and threw them to me. He let me clean myself up and get dressed and was very polite. So yes, it will happen and in all honesty, don't let it worry you; those baby wipes can do a great job of cleaning you up.

Staying Hydrated with an Ostomy with LeeAnne Hayden | Hollister

Hey Beatrice, if we both have blowouts at the same time, maybe we can cover Canada from the East Coast to the West, and everything meets in Ottawa; nobody would notice, ya think?
Ed

Hi Ed, no, I haven't heard anything - keep meaning to email them but forget......! Thanks for asking. xxx

Gus, that is one hell of a story; it will take a bit of beating, that one! xxx

Hey Ed!

It is a big country ... but I think we could do it!
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Rachel -- my leakage/mess was a small blip compared to your story!

You sure are dealing with your 'stuff' well. I'm doing okay since my ileostomy ... but that's largely because things have been going along without mishap.

And I think I'm on a bit of a high right now ... the realization that I can handle this and that my life can be fun and pretty darned normal even with a poop bag at the front of my body.

I'm sure the sh*t will hit the fan in many ways for me in the years to come ... hope I handle it as well as you all.

Gus - you do crack me up.

Ed - She's a Blue Chow Chow. My 'kid'.

Just remember, Beatrice, give it a name and it's always your front bum, because the back one is broken.
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Oh Gus, that's funny, roflmbo
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  that's roflmfrountbo
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Hi Bea, I have an
ileostomy also, 2 yrs now. My first experience with leakage was when I had the car repaired and I was waiting for it. I had felt the bag and noticed it was getting sort of full. In doing so, I also felt a little wet. Running to the BR, I checked it. Oh shit! The wafer was popping off also. Ahhh, I had to laugh; it was a public BR so I had no privacy to change. I cleaned up the bag and around the wafer, and grabbed as many paper towels as I could and put them over the bag and around the wafer, and was grateful for once that the contents were a little thick. Then I put my coat on to hide things, ran to the manager saying I got a medical problem and when will you be done. I had to wait another half hour, but luckily things didn't get worse. I was so glad when they were done, and I could get out of there. I never drove so quickly to get home. Needless to say, I lucked out; the paper towels worked but still had a little mess to clean up after. Ahhh, won't forget that one...

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Gus: Where did you get that great avatar? (I'm not a techie... but would love to download it)

LovingLife2: That is the sort of mishap that will really initiate me! Anything that happens at home just isn't in the same category
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The worst problem I got into was at work. I'm a nurse. I went to the bathroom that is in a hallway that is less traveled to "dump." I was very busy, so it was really full. When I opened the clamp, it went everywhere, all over my panties and scrub pants. There was no way to get my scrubs cleaned up. I had to wait half-naked, peeking out the door, hoping to see someone, anyone. Meanwhile, my beeper keeps going off. Finally, I saw a housekeeper who had no idea what I was talking about, but she brought me a clean pair of scrubs from surgery. I have a lot of accidents, but that was the worst. And yes, I did exactly what you did once!
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eddie

Ed

You were mentioning some defective "ring seals".

A time ago, I had several dozen Convatec bags. The extended ones for large capacity, with the tubular drain. By the way, I went to the large capacity not because of the stool, but because of gas at night. Some nights I was fine. Other nights I was awoken, thank my lucky stars, with a football attached to my stomach. Why that thing didn't burst is beyond me. It never did. I will tell you, getting to the bathroom a person would have thought I had a handful of gold dust and I was not about to let any slip away!
Right where the bag was bunched up and connected to the tube, I was getting leakage. It wasn't like a blowout or anything, just a wetness. It took me several bag changes to actually see where the leakage was.

Rick.....

Hi, my dear friends

My worst leakage was when I was playing bridge at my local bridge club.
When you play bridge, it can last 3 to 3 and a half hours, and if you are not able to finish the game, then it leaves your partner without anyone to finish the game.
Anyway, I was playing at the table and suddenly smelled this horrible smell. I thought someone had let one go; little did I know it was me.
I made my excuses to leave the table and go to the bathroom. When I went to change my bag, it exploded everywhere, all over the toilet, on the floor, over my clothes. I was in a terrible mess. The only thing I had to wipe the mess up was the toilet roll, which of course was wafer thin.
I was so long in the toilet that one of the players came to see if I was okay. The smell hit her for six, and she had to wait outside. I managed to clean up the mess, gave the toilet a spray with the spray I keep in my bag, and made a quick exit. I had used my last bag that I had in my bag, so I had to cover my stoma up with toilet tissue until I got home.
It hasn't stopped me from playing bridge, but I am always on tenterhooks in case it happens there again.
I have had a few while I have been out but managed to get to the nearest toilet and sort it out, but never one as embarrassing as at the bridge club.

Love and hugs to you all
Jean

I am still trying to find a name for it! I wanted to call it Miss Poo... but that is our dog's nickname and has been for years - so that won't work.

Was out with sis... and she asked me "How's your pouch?" (had been out with her before and was glad she asked, as I was full and didn't realize it).

Ugh - don't like the word "pouch" in public. It would have been so much nicer if she could have said, "How is XXX doing?"

Wow Jean - that's quite the story (I don't think I'll take up bridge anytime soon
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Exploding bags ... do they have to be really full to do that (what I call "operator error") or was it bag malfunction - "mechanical failure"?

A little tip, don't eat pork if you have an ileostomy. It creates the foulest-smelling gas and can cause what I call a Zeppo. Also, there's a good chance you'll have a major blow-off with feces and shrapnel flying everywhere, lol. I have two names for mine depending on how it's behaving: Stomy or Squirter. Self-explanatory, really.

The emoticons I use are in the smiley thing on this chat box, lol
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The name that seems to be 'sticking' is Little Guy. Don't ask me why... but I said to my hubby the other day, "Just let me check on Little Guy" before we went out. Sounded good. Told my sis, she said it worked.

So, Little Guy says hi!

Having thought about it since my first post, I would like to warn all you ladies out there who might use a combination of pouches with a Velcro-type closure and sanitary towels which are sticky on the underside...

I remember a couple of years ago, in the midst of one of my already 'bad' days, I was sat on the loo... I'd had a pee and was just going to stand up to empty my bag (just cannot manage to do that sitting down!)

Unbeknownst to me, when I had initially pulled my knickers down, my sticky towel had stuck to the Velcro closure of my pouch and had pulled it down, opening the pouch... When I stood up, I found that all the contents of the pouch (which was pretty full and liquidy!) had already emptied into my trouser leg and was starting to seep through my socks and into my shoes. I can laugh about the ridiculous set of circumstances now, but at the time... ARRRRRRRRRRRRGH!

Hi Rachel,

This recently happened to me! My sanitary pads are sticky on the underside and have sticky 'wings' that wrap around the crotch area of my panties. There always seems to be a bit of sticky section that doesn't get stuck to the panty.

I was getting ready to sit on the toilet to empty (I can only do it sitting so far) and pulled down the knickers. Thank goodness I pulled down slowly and was looking down - and stopped when I saw that the bottom roll-up area of the pouch was quite securely stuck to my pad.

I'm so careful now!

Oh Gus, that's funny, roflmbo
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  that's roflmfrountbo
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Hi Bea, I have an
ileostomy also, 2 yrs now. My first experience with leakage was when I had the car repaired and I was waiting for it. I felt the bag and noticed it was getting sort of full. In doing so, I also felt a little wet. Running to the BR, I checked it. Oh shit! The wafer was popping off also. Ahhh, I had to laugh; it was a public BR so I had no privacy to change. I cleaned up the bag and around the wafer, and grabbed as many paper towels as I could and put them over the bag and around the wafer, and was grateful for once that the contents were a little thick. Then, I put my coat on to hide things, ran to the manager saying I got a medical problem and when will you be done. I had to wait another half hour, but luckily things didn't get worse. I was so glad when they were done, and I could get out of there. I never drove so quickly to get home. Needless to say, I lucked out; the paper towels worked but still had a little mess to clean up after. Ahhh, won't forget that one...

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      When I had my colostomy surgery, I came home from the hospital and  my doctor ordered home health for 3 weeks. It was fine. On the last day, I was going to show the home health how well I've learned. So, she told me to put the bag on by myself. I thought I did okay, but for one thing, I forgot to peel off the paper on the back of the wafer, so to make a long story short, the bag & wafer fell off.

That's what you get for trying to 'show off'
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, Mike.

When I was feeling cocky about how well I was changing stuff ... I emptied my pouch onto the bathroom floor -- luckily not in front of anyone.

It's nice to know I'm not alone LOL
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Hi all, yes, I am a newbie here too. My worst mess and first leakage occurred shortly after surgery. I spent the night with a gentleman friend; things went fine all night, but come morning, what a mess. I woke with the wafer loose and everything wet—poopie sheets, me, and him. There was no way to sneak out and clean up; he had his arm around me, and I couldn't move without waking him. Needless to say, I found out what kind of friend he was that morning.
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Beatrice, I'm sorry you had to go through that. You will learn some ropes as you go. One suggestion I would make is, before going to the bathroom for the last time every evening, move around! Do a little hula dance or something and get things moving for one last time.
Best of luck to you,
Jon T.

It is your best friend in the whole world, Putz. You can have so much fun with it, and it's a great ice breaker when you degas in a lift. lol
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Hey Jon T!

Things are getting better every day -- it's not all so new -- and life goes on, and I'm doing most of what I want to.

Thanks for the tip about moving around before the last empty of the day.

Another thing I learned is not to have carbonated drinks after about 5 PM -- if I want to avoid waking up with a gas balloon by around 3 AM. I love soda... now I only have part of one, or one can (and leave it opened for a bit before drinking, so it's semi-flat). The same goes for Perrier, which I also love.

It still counts. Congrats! More on overcoming and moving on.

My worst fear is to discover a leak when I'm visiting, or in a public loo, when some impatient person keeps trying the door handle, thinking I've been in there far too long. It hasn't happened yet, but one of these days it surely will. At home, within seconds of discovering a leakage, I can be depositing on the floor, up the walls, trickling down my legs. I try to take off my shoes before starting to investigate the damage, having already thrown out several pairs of slippers. The stoma quickly gets very angry-looking, and the surrounding skin starts disintegrating if I can't get to sort it quickly. Then a new bag is difficult to fit and most likely will come off too. I try to have at least two of everything ready in case of failure, rather than having to search for replacements one-handed, the other clutching my stomach.
Now, does anyone want me to come and visit them?
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