Ileo Fascination

My ileostomy has become quite the fascination for Hailey. She attempts to help me empty my bag by trying to undo the velcro that holds it closed, and she will help me “squish” my bag to empty the stool out of it, then she looks in the toilet, points and says “poop” in the silliest voice.

A few weeks ago I received ostomy supply samples from Coloplast and had them sitting on my nightstand for a few days. Next thing I know, Hailey is walking around with one of the bags, holding it on her tummy to the right side of her belly button. She would even put it on Wade’s stomach if she was asked where it went on daddy.

The first time I was home between chemo rounds, she first noticed my ileostomy bag. She would pull up my shirt and look at my tummy, then pull my shirt back down, then proceeded to go and look under everyone elses shirts to see if they had a bag attached to their stomach too.

Today I told Hailey I needed to go change, she took it as I needed to change my ostomy appliance and went into my room, grabbed my zipper bag that had all of my ostomy supplies in it and brought it to me. What a little sweetheart. She watches me do my changes now too.

Today was ostomy change day, so I took some photos;

Top Row Picture 1: my supplies! I use Hollister Adapt Cera Slim Rings (1/2 of one), Hollister Adapt stoma powder (for crusting), Niltac Adhesive Remover (non greasy, best EVER), J-Cloths (for cleaning my skin and any leakage while I have no appliance on), a small piece of ring extender, Cavilon (skin protector), and Sensura Mio Deep Convex appliance and bag! What isn’t pictured is my measuring paper, it’s important to measure your stoma every other change because it can change in size and you don’t want a cut that’s too big or too small.

Picture 2: A picture of my stoma in it’s natural habitat. Just wanted you to see where it was positioned on my abdomen. This picture showcases my big surgery scar from belly button to pubic bone.

Second Row Picture 1: A close up photo of my stoma, as you can tell, it’s quite small! Only about 20mm in diameter.

Picture 2: Crusting. You use stoma powder where there is raw skin, the stoma powder helps to stop the weeping skin, and when you apply Cavilon over it, it forms a kind of crust of stoma powder, providing more of a barrier on your exposed skin.

Third Row Picture 1: Skin has been crusted twice, Cavilon applied to everywhere my appliance will sit, and a piece of appliance extender placed because my stoma is so close to my belly button I have to add additional material for it to stick to, as well as trim the edge of my appliance so it’s not going into my belly button and lifting up.

Fourth Row Picture 1: Appliance applied and stoma happy!

Last Picture: What it looks like with my bag attached. These bags are my favourite because they have a “mini” form which is what I have it folded up at, and they have a larger form, which is when it isn’t velcroed up.

I’m by no means a pro when it comes to ileostomies, but I can answer any questions you have, or I can try my best to answer any questions you may have!

On my leg you can see another small scar, that scar is from my fourth surgery which was an interventional surgery where they went in through my groin and fixed my bleeding stress ulcers. They almost caused me to bleed out, that’s how bad they were. They were emptying blood from my ileostomy bag every 2 minutes because it was completely full. They couldn’t pump blood in me fast enough to keep me from bleeding out, I was taken to the ICU, had a central line placed in my neck and an arterial line placed in my wrist, then went in for emergency surgery. What a ride…