Latest Forum Topics

THIS PAST WEEK I WATCHED, for the umpteenth time, the Millennium trilogy. It consists of three interrelated stories: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played with Fire, and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest. The novels, by Swedish writer Stieg Larsson, were received with general acclaim but, having them available on film, I’ve never read them. The two primary characters ...

Does it seem to anyone else that they are making barriers thinner and thinner? I use Hollister 14602, and have for about 8 years. Over the last year or two, the barriers have felt thinner, and the one from he fresh box I opened yesterday felt incredibly thin and flimsy.

I used to go 6-7 days between changes, and now I can only get 4 because the barrier is already broken down.

I had an old ...

Anxious about flying first time with stoma any one got any tips ??

WE ALL HAVE INTERESTS that we enjoy pursuing and, likewise, things that we avoid doing. Just as you might look for an excuse to do what you like, avoidance techniques employed to NOT do stuff can get fairly inventive. “Anything not worth doing,” said Elias Schwartz, “is worth not doing well.” I am very good, for example, at not mowing the lawn. I am willing to pay someone else jus ...

Ian going to have surgery on my dominant hand and will be unable to perform tasks related to emptying or changing my bag.

Wondering if anyone has been in a similar predicament and how they coped? I plan to have some home health care but feel I need someone with me all day as I empty my bag 4 to 5 times daily and change the whole appliance every 4 to 5 days. My husband has voluntary I’d r ...

Tomorrow marks one year since I had emergency surgery due to a perforation in my colon and got my colostomy. For several months I was angry, resentful, overwhelmed, bitter and depressed. Didn’t think I would ever be able to cope with my new normal. I blamed myself. I don’t remember how I found this group, but am so grateful I did. You all helped to ease my loneliness and gave me suppor ...

Hi everyone,

I'm new to this great forum/group

I had my permanent Ileostomy in April 2024 after living with Ulcerative Colitis for 22 years. I've never been slim, but I'm now at my heaviest I've ever been, after putting on over 3 stone since my operation last year! My GP has got me signed up with a gym/PT, but I'm struggling to get to many sessions due to work, childcare and overwhelming ...

MY GRANDPA’S MEMORY was too good. He never forgot anything and his teeming old man’s brain was filled from crevice to crevice with trivia that would bore a seminarian. He was so chock full of details from his past that they clogged up his remembering mechanism like a bad drain. He couldn’t distinguish between events worth retelling and commonplace crapola that no one could care two wi ...

So I have my pre op tomorrow for Ken bum surgery.

countdown has began just over two weeks, be glad when it’s all done.

Mr B

I have heard recommendations for using marshmellows to slow down output when you'll be swimming or away from bathrooms for a while. Has anyone tried this? If so, how many, how long before activity, any other tips??

I'm heading out for a long out-of-country next month and wondering if marshmellows are a good idea for the long flight, or long days on a boat.

Question for the community. Can anyone recommend a company for travel insurance with an Ostomy to Scotland/Europe? I am finding a lot of companies that provide insurance, but not for pre-existing conditions like an ostomy.

I HEARD SMASHING as I approached the corner of Walk & Don’t Walk the other day. There was a distinctly sodden aspect to the noise, as if someone was pounding melons with a sledgehammer. And so it was! It was Gallagher, wielding his trademark weapon of choice, splattering watermelons that were stacked next to a little sign that read “FREE.” “I thought you were dead,” I told him. ...

After having a J pouch for a number of years, it failed and I went back to an ileostomy. Fast forward 18 years later, I decided to have the inactive J pouch removed due to frequent bouts of pouchitis. The surgery was 8 weeks ago - the J pouch was removed, the surgeon spent 90% of his time cleaning up the adhesions, and gave me a new stoma. However, my output has been quite high (2500 ml in a 2 ...

A couple of questions. Has anyone had a reversal done, and did it work? I had one 3 months after surgery, but it didn't take, so the doctor wants to try it again after a year (this September).
Also, has anyone gone swimming? Is there anything special to use while in the water?
Thanks in advance...Cindy

Hi everyone, let me start off by saying I am the husband talking on this forum because my wife is having a very hard time dealing with having a colostomy and a ostomy bag. She got cancer and they removed her bladder and part of her intestines, she woke up from surgery and our life changed. That was in February 2023. Here we are in 2025 and nothing is better. She had a lot, go on in that time. ...

These are the Horoscopes for the week of May 12, 2025
#carddivo #zodiacsigns #horoscopes
https://youtube.com/shorts/B02lkHbLd7g?feature=share

IN THIS POST I AM GOING TO PREDICT how I am going to die. A stupid person is going to kill me. Some fool is going to mess up my medications, or supply the wrong fluids for my infusion, or neglect to fulfill some standard of care that has been keeping me alive, or act upon an erroneous or negligent diagnosis, or force upon me some treatment or procedure that will cause my condition to worsen. ...

Hi, I have been using Hollister flex-end pouches with the "lock 'n' roll" closure as my predominant pouch for a year or so. I recently experienced a failure of the adhesive that attaches the Velcro strip to the discharge end of the pouch. I was able to temporarily use a paper clip to get home and change. Has anyone else recently had this type of failure? Littlefish

NEVER GO TO THE GROCERY STORE when you’re hungry. In our favorite supermarket, I am like Oscar Wilde, able to resist anything but temptation. If I walk down the aisle displaying cookies, I pick up Nilla Wafers or animal crackers. The candy aisle then beckons me where Caramel Cremes await my eye. Two minutes later, an entire community of snacks and chips puts out a siren call that catches ...

I'm in two minds about going ahead with a reversal operation.

Can anyone tell me about the pros and cons?

Today I cleaned my stoma (loop ileostomy), and it was a bit bigger. I assume it's some blockage since I have been introducing some fiber back. No big deal, I thought, just drink plenty of water and dial down some of the fiber.
But then I see some part of the stoma is black and hard. I don't know if that's normal or if I should consult a surgeon. Then I found a string on the underside, which I ...

Currently, I'm taking Miralax daily and drinking apple juice with it, but it's not working as well as it did a few months ago. I don't always have a BM every day, and with my history of constipation and having a severe bowel obstruction last October, which caused my ostomy, I really need to find a good regimen to make sure that I have a bowel movement every day. Does anyone have any tips that ...

Hi everyone. I'm the 'bag lady' - I have an ileostomy, urostomy, and nephrostomy. Now my wonderful 35 year old son with Down syndrome has been diagnosed with 'bladder dysfunction with urinary retention'. The upshot is that, because of the urine retention, his bladder has stretched out. It reaches his diaphragm! And the muscles are no longer working. He has been catheterized for 10 days, and ne ...

Just saw the PA who assisted the surgeon with my revision and discovered the reason that I have both an innie and why they didn't repair the parastomal hernia - they could not find the fascia that they would fasten it to! Guess my fascia was really torn up during the emergency surgery in 2023 that started my saga and has basically gone into hiding Anyway, I am healing, but she wants to see me ...

Since my December 2024 surgery, I've been vacillating about the reversal. I saw the first colorectal surgeon a couple of weeks ago who felt very confident about the reversal of the stoma, hernia, and granuloma repair. He came highly recommended and avoided any discussion about risks and complications. I chose to obtain a second opinion from a Northwestern surgeon who took the time to examine m ...

A couple of years ago I lost 2/3 of my right Kidney to Cancer. And a couple of weeks ago I was diagnosed with a growth on my left Kidney but they probed a tube into my left kidney from my side and I have been told its benign. Scare over and back on track.

Regards IGGIE

WHATEVER THE OPPOSITE of a technocrat is, that’s me. I not only avoid technology, I resist it. “Once a new technology rolls over you,” wrote Stewart Brand, “if you’re not part of the steamroller, you’re part of the road.” I suppose that I’m flat, then. Well, we all have our TVs and our stereos, but I’m limited to the casual, simple things. I abhor my phone, which I have ...

I'm new to this world, ostomy, and complications last August. I'm on a cruise in the Sea of Japan. I'm afraid to leave the ship for excursions; I have to empty the bag every 90 minutes and feel insecure about finding bathrooms, etc. Any advice? I'm feeling sadder and sadder.

A week from today, I will be in surgery. Having hernia repair surgery and a possible stoma revision. It's an incisional hernia repair and a parastomal hernia repair. I am feeling nervous about it, but only about what will happen when I wake up from surgery. How much pain I will be in... will I have to stay in the hospital, and will I have been cut open on both sides of my stomach or just on th ...

Hello, fellow ostomates! I just got an order of ostomy supplies, and there was some information inside about a product called Par-Sorb. This product consists of gel packets that will dissolve inside the bag. The claims are that the gel makes the pouch contents easier to empty (I don't see how) and keeps pouch contents away from the stoma. Has anyone tried these? What was your experience?
Thank ...