Opus 2014-225: Healthy Insights: Stoma Saga, 5 of 7, Our Problem

Now for the reason for these posts.

For the first three weeks nothing seemed to work for us.  The seals would never hold.  The bags would always leak.  We could watch the progress of brown material through the barrier.  The pain kept up constantly as the skin around the stoma was attacked by the acid. 

If the seal is not good the material, scientifically called poop, pumping out of the stoma comes in constant contact with your skin.  If you have ever had heart burn and felt the way it seems to be eating away at your throat and mouth, picture that on the skin of your abdomen.  The skin gets red.  It gets redder and begins to bleed.  You keep changing the bag and it just gets worse.  You consult the professionals and they come up with all kinds of solutions but nothing works.

Finally, no thanks to the professionals, we began to figure it out. 

Most stomas in the videos stand at attention or at least pretend to do so.  Ours acted like a short snake that was trying to burrow back into the ground.  You had to get real close with a bright flashlight and move the stoma around to discover this.  What we thought was a large stoma that was leaking from the side was actually a stoma of normal dimensions that was bent over.  The stoma is a muscle.  It flexes.  Our stoma had a kink and every time it flexed it put downward pressure as it would emit the acidic contents.  It did not take long for it to work its way down under the barrier, disrupt the seal, eat away the adhesive and begin to attack the skin.

If you are having problems or know someone who is having problems, get down real close with a bright light.  Don’t be afraid to touch the stoma.  Lift it gently.  Move it from side to side.  See if it is bent over.  If not, then I can’t help you.  If it is I can tell you what worked for us.

To be continued...

homo unius libri