3Dobby3

Hey, fellow stoma pooper here. I've only had mine for about two years after having a section of my dysfunctional colon removed (your problem sounds way worse, but hopefully you're getting through it okay). My biggest struggle is remembering to use the toilet every day/overcoming my laziness and doing what I have to do. What's yours?

Do you have one tube that you've always used or do you have to replace it every so often?

Hmm, that's interesting. I don't have to keep my tube in all the time, I just put it in when I flush (that's what I call the nightly water ritual) and take it out when I'm done. I do have to prod the stoma with a metal rod every time, though, because the outermost skin tries to heal.

I'm coming up on my two year anniversary with my stoma and with my girlfriend. I got both of them at the same age that you are now, and she doesn't care at all about it. In fact, it's the subject of a lot of jokes between me and her and a ton of my friends as well. It's something that's necessary for our (you and I) well-being and, at least in my experience, everyone recognizes that and respects that, even if they don't fully understand what it is or does. If I could give you one tip, I would say don't stress it. The people that care about it aren't worth it, and the people that are worth it don't care.

In my experience with my stoma, I can go swimming as long as I have a thing to cover it (I don't know what it's called but it's essentially a big square of thin tape that I put over the entire area), but I don't need to do anything special for showering. My surgeon said that he created my stoma with a sort of one way valve type thing, which may be why I don't have to worry very much.