tbird56b
Just flew to Hungary. I really wasn't ready for the trip. Luckily, I was able to upgrade and had a very nice experience. I'm 4 months post-surgery but not in good enough shape for all the walking on tours. I'm on a Viking River cruise.
I am always chilled and had to buy a jacket. My suitcase is packed with ostomy supplies.
Next cruise is in February. I should be okay for that one. Sec ...

Sitting on a park bench enjoying a warm summer afternoon... I dozed off. A little later, an elderly lady happened by and sat next to me. "Wonderful day, isn't it, young man!" "Oh yes," I replied. "An excellent afternoon indeed."
She stretched her legs, adjusted her glasses, and softly hummed a catchy tune.
In the distance, children were busy at the playground. We could just make out their sho ...

Hi everyone,

I'm almost four months post-ileostomy surgery, and I'm looking to start rebuilding my core strength. I haven't been able to exercise for years, so I'm starting from scratch and want to be really careful.

One of my biggest concerns is overdoing it and increasing my risk of a hernia. I know core strength is important, but I'm not sure what exercises are safe to begin with. ...

Three weeks ago, I started feeling very bad, with vomiting after every meal or drink. This was happening seven months after my colostomy surgery.
After a week of daily vomiting, I became so weak that I passed out just before entering the taxi that was going to take me to the ER. Thank God for my wife, who helped me through all that.
I entered the ER with hyponatremia (low sodium in the blood, ...

Hi, with all due respect to everyone, I joined this group to actually find someone with the same case as my boss's husband. He has a double ostomy, and I believe it has been hard for him since he's been in and out of the hospital for the last 2 to 3 years. This time, he's going for another surgery to fix his hernia, which is, by the way, the second surgery for hernia this year. I would really ...

Got my samples yesterday and changed it this morning; already so much more comfortable! They bend with me when I bend, which the more convex products were not doing, which then led to leaks and a general mess. The video nurse told me that there was zero chance of any convex product ever pushing my stoma to being an ‘outie,' so it would be better to go with a smaller convex product that would ...

Hey everyone! It's been a while since I've been on here. It's good to see some familiar names and faces. I hope you're all doing really well. I miss you guys.
I wanted to come on and mention something I read yesterday that I had never heard about when I had my colostomy and ileostomy: the ostomy irrigation and ostomy cap. I think it's geared towards colostomies from what I gathered. But appare ...

I've been using Hollister's new image, flat skin barriers for the better part of 15 years, and at least once a week, I would experience some leakage underneath the skin barrier between my skin and the barrier. This was always frustrating because it meant that the skin barrier only lasted for a few days.
A couple of weeks ago, I decided to try their convex skin barrier, and I am absolutely en ...

I recently did a 10-day trek in Nepal and have had my ileostomy for a year. I learned a few things that I wanted to share with the group.
Make sure you have a stoma guard to protect your stoma! I had one but did not attach it to my bag because it's a pain to empty. After a few days of hiking 10+ miles a day, I did my first bag change and my stoma was 4 times its normal size and had a mushroom ...

About 3 months after my ileostomy and ureter repair surgery, I had to start working again and could not do anything strenuous. So, I took on a job working the midnight shift in retail (no customers), bathroom accessible any time I needed, light duty work (mostly). With that said, I'd been there over a year and took on a high volume, high stress position, thinking about higher pay and such. We ...

Hey Ostomates, hope you are all having a good day.
What kind of bathroom deodorizer do you all use? Is there a special one for us that works well without being too highly scented? I have tried so many different ones and even tried expensive body spray which didn't work... With an Ileostomy, bathroom odor lingers for a long time after emptying, which is quite often whether I eat or not, and I a ...