Stoma and Gardening

It is that time of the year again.  The grass has become a very green shade of green and the weeds are growing like well weeds grow.  It means that I am not being called to gardening duty by my wife.  The thing about gardening with a stoma is that boy it can cause some extra issues that many people don’t deal with.  Now it is not extraordinary extra work, but since I do have an open wound on my abdomen It is a bit more susceptible to being rubbed the wrong way with all the movement going on. There is nothing worse than getting skin issues when working outside and that goes for stoma’s or even thies.  So there are some good things to do to keep up gardening and not get those issues.

I personally like to keep myself lubricated.  Now that can be taken in so many different ways, but using body glide for my ostomy care and general body rubbing care is really helpful.  I got the idea from a fellow backpacker who won't go on a trail without it and I tried it and decided it was the right product for me.  Now when it comes to ostomy care please ask your healthcare provider for advice and information on all products.  

Don’t trust some article you are reading on the internet!  But it still works wonders for myself.  Being able to be rash free and comfortable when moving tons of mulch, stones, and just in general mowing is a great thing.  I found you can pick up body glide for around 6 bucks at your local outdoor store.  REI or most big box stores will have something similar and it will be by the gold bond section in most stores. 

So the next thing is to make sure you are keeping your ostomy gear tightly sealed and from moving.  I suggest either wearing tighter gear to keep it close to your body and without moving.  It always seems to be nice not to have a swinging bag when doing more physical activity and I am pretty sure I am not a lone in that one.  So if you need to grab an ostomy belt go for it or if you want to wear some higher waisted tighter pants, that is another good way to keep things high and tight. But most of all be comfortable and wear what works for your body.  We are all different and no one can tell you what really works best for you but you!

Handling New Information

Learning ostomy care is an adjustment for anyone. Once you get the hang of it, though, it really is not that much of a task. A few daily things will change, but your overall life will improve so much you won’t even notice the little changes. Let’s learn some facts about ostomy care, supplies, and some serious complications to look out for.

First you will need to learn about your ostomy bag. This is the appliance that your stoma will drain into. The waste will either be urine or stool, depending on the type of ostomy you have. There are specific products to be used depending on what type of ostomyprocedure you have. Some bags will need to be changed about every four days. Some patients have to use a daily bag. Cleaning the stoma and the skin around it is very important when changing bags. It is also important to let the skin dry completely before applying the barrier or bag. Always be checking for signs of irritation around the stoma or skin. Notice that the stoma will change in color, size, and maybe even shape while it is healing. But if it does not look like what your doctors or nurses said it should, then you should contact your doctor.

You will notice you will excrete stool much more than normal. That’s a good thing! It means your intestines and stoma are functioning properly. Depending on the type of bag you have, you will need to empty or change your bag accordingly. Make sure you are emptying it before it gets too full. That can cause leakage. Always, you might notice it start to inflate because of gas. Just open a little to release the gas.

Another new adjustment might be the type of food you eat. You may be able to eat way more than you did pre-surgery. Many people suffer from food intolerances that are fixed through an ostomy. Just  be sure to introduce foods slowly back into your diet. It is also smart to introduce a new food one at a time so if a flare up happens, you can pinpoint which food item it was. You can also monitor how your body is breaking down that food item by checking your daily stool. Make sure to also check for dehydration as more liquid will be exiting your body than normal. Be sure to be drinking at least 6 glasses of water per day to prevent dehydration with an ostomy.

Pastes & Your Ostomy Supplies

Whenever learning something new, especially anything medical related, it’s important to do your due diligence and research when checking out what’s out there, what you need to know, and what misinformation exists surrounding a product and your health. Just because something is available for purchase on shelves doesn’t always mean it’s healthy or beneficial for your use, and just because it’s marked as “safe” does not necessarily indicate that it’s safe for you and your own needs.

That’s where I think a lot of people go wrong when choosing specific supplies for their ostomy care. We all have different body types, sweat levels, and other factors that can affect how pouching systems and other supplies adhere to our bodies. That’s why you’ll see a slew of different products out there for consumer purchase. Nonetheless, it’s important to know what it is that you need, and that’s why staying in conversation with your healthcare provider can prove much more beneficial than any sort of internet article can lead you to believe.

Since we’ve talked about the different types of products, like the upper end ostomy supplies brands, it’s important to visit other issues that affect the ostomy community, like if you need to use accessories in order to help your skin barriers adhere more easily. Sometimes these can come in the form of pastes or rings or even powders. But not everyone needs them, so it’s good to know the different reasons why you might use them and why they may actually be something you should stay away from.

Let’s start with pastes. These can be used to fill in uneven areas in your skin or creases around your stoma that would typically cause your barrier system to not stay adhered very well. So all it takes is a little bit to help fill them in, which means not to overdo the paste. Strips can be different types of paste that you can use to fill in uneven areas, much in the same way a paste would do. But if your skin around the area is quite smooth, don’t use any. You’re likely misapplying you skin barrier if you have super smooth skin.

It’s important to keep in mind that some of these contain a burning sensation from alcohol, which means you’ll want to know how your skin is feeling and how it reacts to such products. And you should only apply a little around place near your skin barrier system where there’s an area that could cause leaks. Don’t use it more than you need to.

Overall, basic ostomy care practices dictate that the user should be comfortable at all times. If you feel something is off, listen to your body. It likely means something really is off.

Nuclear power plant operator with an ostomy

As a nuclear power plant operator who has an ostomy bag, life is quite simple. It is funny to say that I live a simple life, yet I operate a nuclear power plant. I was born with a defect, and I do not mind sharing that. It caused me to need a permanent ostomy all my life. I have received some bullying because of it, but I tended to ignore the haters as I knew that I would be making a lot of money. When I was in school, I had a pretty high ego when it came to talking about the future. 

When I was born, I was born with a defect. That defect is called an imperforate anus. To explain it simply. I was born without an anus. This caused the doctors to immediately want to operate on me and fix that problem. To fix this, they needed to perform a permanent ostomy procedure. They took my colon out as it was relatively useless to me. They left part of it and brought it to the front of my body to my abdomen wall. A hole was then created where that part of my colon could poke out. This makes what is called a stoma. A stoma is a red, pink color. This allows for any of my bodily waste to exit my body and get dumped into a bag that is worn on my abdomen over the stoma. 

In school, I received some bullying once they found out I had an ostomy. I did my best to hide it and not tell many people, but I guess I should not have told anyone. When I did receive bullying, I stood my ground and stood up for myself. I generally like to say to them I was going to make more money than them or that I would empty it on them. This usually shuts them up really quickly. I found it amusing because I would never do that. I was determined to become a nuclear power plant operator and had to work very hard in school. I usually ended the school years with at least a B to A average which I was proud of. Due to my hard work in grade school and high school, i was able to get into a great college and focus entirely on nuclear information and work procedures. 

When I graduated college, I had a job already lined up, which was very rewarding as I know a few of my friends looked for employment for a while after they had graduated in different fields. My work is not that intensive. Most of the time, I’m looking at gauges on a board monitoring the power plant’s temperature. It is vital to keep a constant temperature going into the nuclear core otherwise, something wrong will happen like Chernobyl. 

I love my job. It is very rewarding regardless of the risks we are taking. Every nuclear power plant does the utmost to ensure nothing like Chernobyl happens. If it were to happen, then the amount of destruction that could unfold would be untold. It is my job to ensure nothing like that will ever happen at our plant. My wife works alongside me in a different section of the plant, and we both love what we do. My situation does not prevent me from doing my job, and I have never encountered a problem I could not overcome. 

Working Out With a Stoma

Ever since I was young, I have always loved exercising and working out. I definitely played as many different types of sports as I could while growing up, and lifting weights became a part of my daily routine when I was just in highschool. Since then, I have remained committed to making my days better with some form of exercise or working out each day when I wake up in the morning. The thing about working out in the morning is that it is a really good way to wake up your body and your mind, as well as get yourself ready for the day. I go to the gym that is only 10 or so minutes from my house, so I spend most mornings there lifting weights and running on the treadmill before I go to work. What most people don’t know about me is that I actually had an ostomy a few years ago, which means that I have a stoma coming out of my colon. I think that most people are surprised to hear that I have continued to workout with my stoma. Well, all I can say is that you have to continue doing the things that make you happy and bring you satisfaction in life. For me, that has always been working out.

I wanted to write this article to give you a few tips about working out when you have a stoma. For me, it all started kind of slowly after my surgery. I was originally extremely worried about getting a stoma put in and was not sure how I would be able to get back to my normal life that I had without wearing an ostomy bag all the time. However, the doctors assured me that, once I’ve recovered from surgery, I should be able to return to working out like normal with just a few minor adjustments. The biggest thing I wanted to make sure of was that I wasn’t going to cause any complications to my stoma by lifting weights. Running or jogging is one thing, but lifting weights is undeniably harder on your body than most other forms of exercise. Ask any old guy who’s worked out for a lot of years, and he will tell you about some injury that has continually bothered him throughout his life in the gym. 

After I recovered from surgery for a few weeks, I headed back to the gym to try my hand at lifting weights again. I tried out a variety of different ostomy bags to make sure I could find one that was most suitable for working out. I think that the non-reusable ostomy bags work best for working out, because you can just toss them in the garbage once you are done and don’t have to worry about trying to empty it or anything like that. They also fit a bit closer to your body, which is nice when you are working out - the last thing you’d want is to accidentally bang your ostomy bag against a barbell and have all your contents spilling out onto the gym floor. That would be what ostomates refer to as a disaster. I think that, for the most part, my gym routine has remained mostly unchanged even after getting an ostomy. Let me know if you have questions down below.