I have been living with horrendous complications from my August 2017 colostomy. I've had to deal with leakage problems due to my numerous hernias. I have tried every company out there to no avail! No one could seem to help me. I was so desperate, I called the Ostomy Association for assistance. They referred me to a top-notch ostomy nurse at Scarborough Centenary Hospital, Toronto. Immediately, she told me I needed a soft convex flange from Salts/Argyle who actually make their flanges for hernias!! You can mold the flange around the hernia because it has slits all around. OMG, it worked!! For the first time in months, since I developed my hernias, I don't have to worry about going out, nor do I have to change my flanges sometimes three times a day! Anyway, just thought I'd share this exciting news for anyone who has problems with hernias. I know it seems kind of silly to be so excited about something like this but you all probably understand
Hello Buffi.
Thanks for your post and it is not at all silly to be sharing your excitement at finding a solution to a difficult problem. I'm sure a lot of people will be greatful for this information.
Best wishes
Bill
This is a remarkable community of 40,920 members.
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iMacG5
When I found this web site, I didn't think its name had anything to do with actually meeting an ostomate but I later learned there were some folks who did meet and develop relationships. How good is that? That wasn't my intention. I definitely didn't want anyone to meet me. I felt broken and wasn't prepared to express those feelings. I thought it was a place where ostomates wrote about themselves, posed questions, shared thoughts, told jokes and, sometimes, just vented. I thought of it as a community of folks with similar interests and various degrees of experience. Mostly I found some of the most caring, selfless, wise and understanding people I ever imagined. I was so impressed with some of the writings; not because of their literary value but the way in which they addressed such a very complex environment. I read hundreds of exchanges and admired the way folks cared for each other. I became hopeful with my own situation and looked forward to the next day's offerings. Certainly some contributors stood out with their experience or particular skills in addressing some things but it seemed like a total effort with synergistic results. I felt blessed to have found this site. I still do.
Mike
That is wonderful information, Buffi.
I would be excited as well. It's not often enough we find a product that does just what we need it to do!
Thank you for sharing.
Learn about the common issues and symptoms that warrant a call for assistance.
I struggled so much for almost a year with the problem and no one could seem to help me. It just goes to show that it only takes one person to make a difference. I hope this helps some people out there.
I am also in Canada and have developed a parastomal hernia. When I talked to my surgeon about fixing it, he didn't want to do it. He said basically that 'getting a stoma is creating a hernia'. I was like, "WHAT?" When you read on the internet, it is like if you get a hernia, just get it operated on to fix it. I got the impression from my surgeon that I am stuck with this for life. And it's getting bigger. I hate it. Have you talked to your surgeon about getting it fixed? By the way, I use Marlen products, deep convex, and it works well.
Stories of Living Life to the Fullest from Ostomy Advocates I Hollister
Thanks for your post. I'm at high risk now for an operation of any sort. But in 1 year, I may be able to have a three-in-one surgery...hernias, prolapse, and hopefully reversal. My surgeon didn't say anything like the hernias couldn't be fixed. I'm on prednisone and weaning off. That's why I have to wait. If the reversal isn't possible, they are still doing the hernias. I don't understand your surgeon.
My surgeon is a coward. I had been telling him for years I had a hernia in the right groin that was very painful (this was before my bowel resection in February 2016). He denied I had a hernia because their 'imaging' never showed it and he could not palpate it. So I was left to suffer for years with it and when I got an 'attack' (I think my bowel was popping in and out of it), the pain was off the charts, way worse than childbirth. So......in Feb. 2016 I gave up and said do a bowel resection then (I did have diverticulitis more than once but not on the right side where I told him I had a hernia). I told him to look at the lower right groin when he went in to do the bowel resection to see if I had a hernia there. He said he looked and couldn't see anything. I thought I was going crazy. The attacks did not stop. Long story short, I finally got an ultrasound technician who knew what they were doing and asked me to 'cough' while she was taking the test and images. And of course, the hernia showed up. Femoral hernia, which is not an elective surgery and only 3% of hernias are femoral. In the meantime, I had a heart attack and they had used the femoral artery to jam the catheter into (that's a side story, but it blew out the next morning and as you can imagine was an emergency with a capital 'E'). So now, this stupid surgeon had to admit he was wrong, that I had had this hernia all along and that he now had to operate on it. I am going through recovery of that right now, had surgery on the 27th of June. His entire operative report reads like a form of 'damage control' because he screwed up and didn't believe me all those years AND gave me a bowel resection. I chose the resection because I was desperate to get out of pain and he refused to believe I had a hernia. Now..................I have a parastomal hernia too. The guy is supposed to be the 'best surgeon' here.