Adapting to Life

When I was growing up, I loved sports. Sports were everything to me. I think I enjoyed sport so much because of how competitive I was. I hated losing and loved the feeling of victory, or winning. This feeling of victory and success drove me to play as much as I could. Even in physical education class, it didn’t matter what game we were playing, I wanted to win. I would often go over the top to get a victory. I can’t say I enjoyed this about myself, but I couldn’t control it. I remember thinking “I’m just going to take it nice and easy today and have fun”.

But then something would trigger me and I would go into full blown competitive mode. My classmates often said “stop taking this so seriously, it’s just a physical education game, calm down”. I didn’t appreciate their words, so I went even harder and took it even more seriously.

My eighth grade year of school, I decided to play baseball and run cross country for the junior high program at the exact same time.

I must admit, it was a lot. But, like I said, I loved the competition and playing two sports at once gave me all the chances to compete I needed. Playing sport involves risk of injury. Playing two sports at once increases that risk exponentially. And I could not escape the risk. Towards the end of cross country season, we were on the track doing 400 meter repeats. We would run a 400, then rest one to two minutes, then take off for another 400.

We had about 12 boys on the team and we would all start each 400 at the same time. Well, I had gotten tripped up by a teammate that was behind me in the first 20 meters of one of the 400’s. I ended up getting trampled on a concrete track. My entire abdomen was so skinned up. As I was looking for ways to help ease my pain, I came across some Hollister ostomy supplies.

These supplies are predominately used for folks that have had ostomy procedures. But I noticed one of the products looked like a thick belt that covered your entire abdomen. We decided to get one for me so my skin wouldn’t rub against my shirt. Although I never had an ostomy care procedure done, the Hollister ostomy supplies available definitely helped my healing process.

Looking at the Bright Side

A silver lining is when a good thing comes out of a bad thing. I’ve heard the saying “when it’s bad, it’s not all bad”. The problem is, many people have a negative mindset with most things in life. So, if something bad happens in their life they immediately think “what could go wrong next?” when really, there is plenty of goodness in our lives that we should be thankful for. For some reason, we as humans, seem to have minds that highlight and remember everything bad that has ever happened in our lives. We do this with big things and small things.

If we hit every single red light in a one mile trip, we will remember that and complain about it as it happens. But if we hit every green light in that same trip, we won’t think anything about it. We certainly won’t give thanks and appreciation that we were able to hit all green lights. I think there are silver linings in most bad things that happen if you look for them.

For instance, we have been trying to get the school district and boosters club to purchase a shooting machine for our basketball team. We have requested and requested but have been denied and denied. All of a sudden, we ended the season with three straight losses and shot a combined 23% from the field while doing so. The superintendent happened to be at the last game where we made 9 total field goals for 26 points in the game and shot eighteen percent. After the game, he sent a text to the athletic director saying “we are getting these guys that shooting machine, they really need it”.

So, even though we ended the season on a three game losing streak, and shot the ball terrible in that stretch, the silver lining is that we are going to be getting that shooting machine we’ve been desperately requesting.

Another silver lining that I have seen in my own life is when I had to have an ostomy procedure done.

Because of the ostomy supplies that are out there, I was not left with a hole in the side of my abdomen, I actually had equipment that almost simplified the process of passing stool. I no longer have to get up in the middle of the night to pee, my Hollister ostomy supplies keep my stool safe and in the bag that was provided for me after my ostomy procedure.

Changing the colostomy Pouch

After bowel surgery if you have colon cancer, you may need to use a pouch. The boxes of different supplies and the instructions for care that accompany this may be exciting but changing your pouch may scare you. If you’re good at this though, it does take less than 15 mins. 

How Often To change 

It ultimately depends on the following: 

• The ostomy location 

• The frequency and consistency of the bowels 

• The skin oiliness 

• How much activity you do 

• Temperatures both outside and inside 

• What type of appliance you like to use—whether one or two piece 

The location does determine the bowel consistency, since in a lot of cases the ones with looser stool do need to be changed more, but if it’s semi-formed, it doesn’t need to be changed as often. 

If you have moist or oily skin, or the temperature is hot, the colostomy pouch may not stick, which requires more and more changes. 

If you’re active and also like to exercise, you might need to change this more. 

Because some have to be changed more often, you should follow the guidelines and the instructions that your doctor or ET nurse have to show you how to change this. 

If you do notice leakage, it s time to change that. 

Don’t let it get more than a half to a third full, since this can impact the adherence of this. 

Supply gathering 

Before you change, you need the following. 

• Towels, water, and soap 

• The appliance and a clip if needed 

• Scissors for a two-piece type of appliance to make sure the barrier wafer is trimmed. 

• Skin adhesive 

• Stoma powder or paste 

• Disposable bag

Put all of the supplies in your bathroom and use a stool to empty the bag into the toilet before you go to change it. Some people also prefer sitting down. 

The Process 

First, you need to remove that appliance that you had before. Open up the clip, drain the contents towards the toilet before removal, and then put the clip to the side. 

Don’t rip off the wafer since that causes stress in the stoma and skin, which causes irritation and bleeding. Press down on your skin barrier with one of your hands and pull the skin away with the other. If you have hair there, trim the hair with scissors or using a razor, since this helps with discomfort. 

Get rid of the appliance in a shopping bag, and then tie the top of this in a knot to get rid of odor. 

Next you want to wash your skin and stoma. Do this gently, with a washcloth and no soap that’s scented. Air dry the area before you begin, and make sure that it’s a reddish color, or pink. 

Next, it’s then time to put the wafer skin barrier on. With a two-piece appliance, you must cut the opening near the center part. 

Cut this to match the skin before applying. Make sure the opening matches the stoma, not too big, not too small. 

Then, you hold it down there and seal it with the powder.  With two piece systems, it does require you to put the pouch in place with a snap, and make sure the clip seals the bag for an open drainage pouch. 

And that’s it! It’s not that hard to do, but it does take a little bit of experience. Hopefully though, as you go along, you can get better and better at this, and take less time with this as well.