I have had a successful appliance change! Yippee!!!
By daeckardt
@daeckardt (6237)
United States
February 5, 2011 5:45am CST
This may seem like a weird topic, but I am really excited by this. My first attempt at changing my colostomy bag resulted in leakage in only a day or so. I guess I didn't use enough of the paste I was provided with. I have now gone four days without leakage. I guess what I am trying to find out is: How long should I wait before I make the next change? I have heard that it could be anywhere from 3-7 days, but I don't want to push it. I want to give it enough time that my supplies last for the month because I can't afford to buy them, but I don't want to wait so long that I am making a mess because it starts leaking. My ostomy nurse signed me up with a program that will send me supplies once a month for six months so that helps. I guess I could call that company and ask them about this. Thanks in advance for any suggestions that I might get.
1 response
@margeryann (1845)
• United States
6 Feb 11
I knew someone that had to have that bag but he got lucky and later on every now and then his intestine replaced his colon to where they did a surgery and closed his stomach up and he didn't have to use the bag no more. He was on the bag for probably a year though. There was a chance that wouldn't happen but he got lucky and it did.Hopefully that happens to you. I don't know how often he changed his bag though. I bet that can be a mess. He had his colon took out and had to lose a leg the same time he was at the hospital because he was having blood clot problems in his leg before he went at the same time.
1 person likes this
@daeckardt (6237)
• United States
6 Feb 11
margeryann,
Thanks for the response. I look forward to the day that I can get rid of this bag. Originally, they were going to take out a portion of my colon and a portion of my bladder to close a fistula that was connecting the two. Unfortunately, the gyn/onc was there and saw all the cancer and said it would be too dangerous to cut the cancer so the repair was not done. Hopefully, I will be able to get through the chemo so that the cancer is gone and then I can get the repair done and then they can get me working right again after the colon heals. I have been told that it might not happen, but then it might. I will have to wait and see.
As far as changing the bag goes, I am still not used to it yet so it is a bit messy still. I like the fact that the new samples that the other companies sent out don't have to use paste but have a ring that I can use to seal it. Maybe that will do a better job for me. What can I say...changing an ostomy bag is like changing a diaper. You never know when it is going to squirt.
As far as your friend goes, it is sad that all that had to happen to him. Has he recovered from that? I think it would be very difficult to lose a leg and everything else that he was going through. Thanks for the response!
@margeryann (1845)
• United States
7 Feb 11
Cancer runs in my family heavy. I know how you feel. Cancer is a scary situation. Hopefully they get you well soon. He has recovered from that. He got fortunate that his boss paid for him to have a leg. The only thing is he needs another one because it is starting to not fit very good because is you lose weight or gain weight it fits differently. Hopefully he can figure out how to get that done. He still uses his leg though. He is on medicare or something like that because he couldn't work no more when he had the bag and just one leg so he got on social security but the medicare or whatever he has doesn't pay for everything so it can still be a mess but it is better then nothing.
@margeryann (1845)
• United States
9 Mar 11
Thank you for the best response.I'm like you I wait for a while before I give best responses so everyone has a chance to answer. It is a big job going through all the discussion to do that.
