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My Stoma -warning- pictures for Persephone300

I saw Persephone300 was upset about the look of her stoma, so I thought I'd throw up some pics of a non-spouty stoma to show her how its okay if its sunken in. :) I had my surgery Sept. 26

Here is the area in general with my bag on and my mucus fistula Oct 11 (2.5 weeksish postop):




And here it is without the bag two days after staple removal... see how sunken my stoma is? Oct 19 (3.5 weekish postop):




Anyways... don't get too discouraged. I was when I saw the people with the nice spouty sticky outy type stomas, but oh well. We are just different :)

Hopefully this doesn't bother some viewers :)
 
Katiesue,

Thank you for posting, my colostomy / scars look almost identical to yours, though I didn't heal up well. It took a wound Vac to close the wounds and that was no fun at all after stepping on the suction hose attached to the wound a few times.... and having to rip out the foam after a few days of healing. well id like to post a few pics of my stoma and share some of the issues I've recently been having with it (fistula draining out beside the stoma)
 
I just figured seeing someone with an "innie" would help others cause I remember sitting in the hospital reading the stoma materials they give and seeing the stoma in the pictures on the models and thinking "uhhh... is something wrong with mine?"

I was told that they usually put more flush stomas on temp. illeostomies because they don't want to expose too much bowel to the open air? Dunno if its true or not.

The shape of my belly button has changed completely since surgery, I used to have a piercing but you can see in the picture how high the piercing holes have moved. I don't think I'll be able to wear it anymore without it looking too high. Somehow they managed to make my belly button smaller too, used to be a big dip.

I just hope when they reopen me for the reversal that my surgeon fixes the scar a little or at least puts more staples in. They only used 14 staples last time and as you can see I pulled away a lot and now I have a pretty wide scar at top and bottom.

I'd also like to try the Coloplast and Convatec samples I got in the mail but I don't even think the flanges are small enough to fit. I already have to hack away at the Hollister ones to make them fit.

Anyways... thanks for being supportive... it helps to talk to others who deal with it. Cause you just can't know til you're there yourself.
 
Thanks Katie this is really helpful. As soon as I'm up for baring all I'll post mine too, but basically mine looks similar to yours, except cos I'm overweight my stomach surrounds it, which is why I'm getting problems with the burning skin.
 

Nyx

Moderator
All you folks with your tiny stomas....lol Oscar looks like a giant compared to yours...lol Thanks for posting a pic though...I'm not sure I'm brave enough to do that :)
 
Thanks katiesue. That's a great resource.
Thanks for being so brave posting your pics. Sorry I won't be doing that. Not after a twin pregnancy (stretch marks++), 4 open rejections, the last one not healing, now tummy looks like a bum, and belly button pretty much gone, two Caesarian sections and a few extra kilos. Afraid my tummy is now more reminiscent of a circus exhibition, but that's ok, it shows I survived.
xx
 
I'm sure Janette it is absolutely fine and you look lovely!

Coming out from the surgery, not sure if it's the pred talking, but I can't sweat the small stuff anymore, so what if my tummy looks like an 80 year old sumo wrestlers. I'm alive, and things can only get better!
 
That is exactly right. Hey some days I want to stand on a chair in the shopping centre and yell out ' I'm alive ' Perse so glad your back. How did you get on with Stoma nurse?

I saw a quote not so long ago that I loved, it went a bit like this

SCARS are
Tattoos with
Memories and meaning.
 
I would say a deep convexity bag is what you might need. You may actually need that with some kind of filler paste or strip.

Also, Nyx was going to try out the new Sensura Mio bags and flanges- maybe she will be able to give a review on whether it is as flexible as the advertisements state.

With everyone's history and experience on here, someone's gotta have some relief options for you. We will get it figured out!
 
I use a deep convexity bag and it is too stiff around the central section. It wouldn't curve up until too far out from the centre.
 
I just read the other place where she said she tried the deep convexity bag.

We need to either find or invent a very flexible flange with good adhesion (I think this is what the sensura mio boasts).
 
Of the two they gave me to try the other week...one was a convexity bag, but like Susan said, it only curved quite a distance from the centre. The other had a very hard centre, and again, although would stick at the top and mostly on the sides, just wouldnt seem to fit on the bottom, leaving a big gap underneath. The ones I'm using from Peak, ileomate right now, seem to be the better options, but again, they still don't fit properly in the hole between my fat :(
 
I would find the most flexible wafer I could that would be able to conform to the shape in and around your stoma.

When is your appointment to see your surgeon again persephone300?
 
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