Ostomy bag

coloCan
coloCan Member Posts: 1,944 Member
edited March 2014 in Colorectal Cancer #1
Anyone experienced using ostomy bag due to colostomy from colorectal cancer? How long from surgery did the bad pain last? How do you get comfortable?Over time,does life really return to what had been "normal" prior to op? Had my op month ago....

Comments

  • kevinpayne
    kevinpayne Member Posts: 17
    #2
    Hello colocan
    Yes life does return to normal, seriously. My husband at 50 was dx with stage IV colon cancer. After all of the radiation/chemo and surgery he has a colostomy. It does take awhile for the pain to go away, that time is individual. Take this time to learn all you can about diet and appliances. His surgeon told us at the beginning that there are many people who have colostomies and you'd never know it. At that time I thought that if someone else could be "normal" so could we. Now 2 1/2 years later, it really no problem. Kevin goes and does whatever he wants whenever he wants. We went camping and kayaking last weekend and had a great time. Hollister.com has some great instructional videos and personal testimonies.
  • coloCan
    coloCan Member Posts: 1,944 Member
    #3
    kevinpayne said:

    Hello colocan
    Yes life does return to normal, seriously. My husband at 50 was dx with stage IV colon cancer. After all of the radiation/chemo and surgery he has a colostomy. It does take awhile for the pain to go away, that time is individual. Take this time to learn all you can about diet and appliances. His surgeon told us at the beginning that there are many people who have colostomies and you'd never know it. At that time I thought that if someone else could be "normal" so could we. Now 2 1/2 years later, it really no problem. Kevin goes and does whatever he wants whenever he wants. We went camping and kayaking last weekend and had a great time. Hollister.com has some great instructional videos and personal testimonies.

    ostomy
    thanks for response....just getting comfortable is a chore tho pain is slightly abating.Sleep is still almost impossible and its one month after op. Try to walk thru apartment for exercise. Need to somehow gain strength/weight for chemo thats coming up...
  • Jimbob-
    Jimbob- Member Posts: 46
    #4
    coloCan said:

    ostomy
    thanks for response....just getting comfortable is a chore tho pain is slightly abating.Sleep is still almost impossible and its one month after op. Try to walk thru apartment for exercise. Need to somehow gain strength/weight for chemo thats coming up...

    Suggestion
    Allow me to suggest you brouse around the Ostomy assn web site. www.uoaa.org You will find more information on the care and feeding of an ostomy than you can ever absorb.

    Just like here you will need to register to Post but I think you can browse without registering.
  • NWGirl
    NWGirl Member Posts: 122 Member
    #5
    Jimbob- said:

    Suggestion
    Allow me to suggest you brouse around the Ostomy assn web site. www.uoaa.org You will find more information on the care and feeding of an ostomy than you can ever absorb.

    Just like here you will need to register to Post but I think you can browse without registering.

    Ditto what Jimbob said....
    I agree with Jimbob - I had a temporary ileostomy for a year while I went through chemo/radiation. The group on UOAA was a life saver.

    It took me awhile to adjust physically and probably longer mentally/emotionally to my ostomy - but I got there. A month after surgery I couldn't even make it through the grocery store and back to my car by myself (I tried). Give yourself time to heal - a month is still very early.

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